Early Childhood Research and Education:

An Inter-theoretical Focus 7

Aleksander Veraksa
Yulia Solovieva Editors

Learning
Mathematics
by Cultural-Historical
Theory
Implementation
Understanding Vygotsky’s Approach
Early Childhood Research and Education: An
Inter-theoretical Focus

Volume 7

Series Editors
Joseph Agbenyega, Peninsula Campus, Monash University, Frankston, Australia
Marie Hammer, Faculty of Education, Peninsula Campus, Monash University,
Frankston, Australia
Nikolai Veresov, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Frankston, Australia
This series addresses inter-disciplinary critical components in early childhood educa-
tion such as: Relationships: Movements/Transitions; Community and contexts;
Leadership; Ethics are driven by a range of theories.
It brings depth and breadth to the application of different theories to these compo-
nents both in the research and its practical applications in early childhood education.
In-depth discussion of theoretical lenses and their application to research and practice
provides insights into the complexities and dynamics of Early Childhood education
and practice.
This series is designed to explore the application of a range of theories to open
up and analyse sets of data. Each volume will explore multiple age periods of early
childhood and will interrogate common data sets. The notion of theoretical coherence
as a methodological principle will underpin the approach across each of the volumes.
Aleksander Veraksa · Yulia Solovieva
Editors

Learning Mathematics
by Cultural-Historical
Theory Implementation
Understanding Vygotsky’s Approach
Editors
Aleksander Veraksa Yulia Solovieva
Faculty of Psychology Autonomous University of Puebla
Lomonosov Moscow State University and Autonomous University of Tlaxcala
Moscow, Russia Tlaxcala, Mexico
Federal Scientific Center of Psychological
and Multidisciplinary Research
Moscow, Russia

ISSN 2946-6091 ISSN 2946-6105 (electronic)

Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical Focus
ISBN 978-3-031-66893-7 ISBN 978-3-031-66894-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66894-4

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2024

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse
of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar
or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or
the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any
errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

If disposing of this product, please recycle the paper.

Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Yulia Solovieva, Aleksander Veraksa, and Yury Zinchenko

Part I Theory and Methodology for Teaching of Mathematics in

Cultural-Historical Approach
2 Mathematics as a System of Cultural Historical Knowledge
and Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Mendoza Hernández Octavio
3 Development of Symbolic Functions as the Basis for Learning
of Mathematics at School: Continuation of the Dialogue
Between Piaget and Vygotsky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Claudia Ximena González-Moreno, Yolanda Rosas-Rivera,
and Yulia Solovieva
4 Psychological Means and Mathematical Concepts Acquisition
in Preschool Age: Which Are Better to Use? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Aleksander Veraksa, Nikolay Veraksa, and Margarita Aslanova
5 The Pre-number Period of Teaching Mathematics in Russia:
A Psychological Analysis from the CHAT Standpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Anastasia Sidneva and Valeria Plotnikova
6 Teaching-Orienteering Activity: Principles and Practices
for the Organization of Mathematics Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Elaine Sampaio Araujo
7 Processes of Abstraction, Generalization, and Formation
of Mathematical Concepts: A Teaching Experience
with Future Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Josélia Euzébio da Rosa

v
vi Contents

8 Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving in Elementary School . . . . 123

Yolanda Rosas-Rivera, Yulia Solovieva, and Luis Quintanar Rojas

Part II Research and Proposals for Teaching of Mathematics

9 Development of Mathematical Skills of Primary School
Children with Different Levels of Executive Functions
in CHAT-Based and Traditional Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Daria Bukhalenkova, Anastasia Sidneva, Margarita Aslanova,
and Marina Vasilyeva
10 Scaffolding Multiplicative Concepts Formation: A Way
of Digital Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Elena Vysotskaya, Maria Yanishevskaya, Anastasia Lobanova,
and Marat Taysin
11 The Math Club as a Learning Space for Teachers: Guiding
Principles Based on Cultural-Historical Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Anemari Roesler Luersen Vieira Lopes,
Manoel Oriosvaldo de Moura, and Wellington Lima Cedro
12 The Organization of Teaching for the Development
of Students’ Mathematical Conceptual Thinking
as Content-form of the Teaching Training Process:
A Cultural-Historical Experience in the Context of Brazilian
Public Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Patrícia Lopes Jorge Franco, Andréa Maturano Longarezi,
and Fabiana Fiorezi de Marco
13 Contributions of the Cultural–Historical Theory to Activities
for Teaching Measures of Time and Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Ana Paula Gladcheff, Moisés Alves Fraga,
Neusa Maria Marques de Souza,
Amanda Cristina Tedesco Piovezan,
and Anelisa Kisielewski Esteves
14 Collective Reasoning and the Use of Learning Models
for Relationships Between Quantities, as Suggested
by the El’konin–Davydov Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Helena Eriksson
15 “Learning Models” as a Means of Materialising Algebraic
Thinking in Joint Actions—Results from a Design Study
in Grades 1 and 5 in Sweden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Inger Eriksson, Jenny Fred, Anna-Karin Nordin, Martin Nyman,
and Sanna Wettergren
Chapter 1
Introduction

Yulia Solovieva, Aleksander Veraksa, and Yury Zinchenko

The present book is dedicated to the topic of acquisition of mathematical abilities

during the process of ontogenetic development. The theme of acquisition of general
cultural experience was in the focus of cultural-historical theory, starting from works
of L. S. Vygotsky. According to cultural-historical approach, mathematical knowl-
edge and mathematical abilities are not isolated abilities, but an integrated part of
this general cultural-historical experience. L. S. Vygotsky saw the specificity of
child development in the child’s mastery of cultural forms of psychological activity,
which appears twice on the scene of the child’s psychological development: firstly, as
external activity, and later, as internal, or internalized mental activity. The essential
point of this paradigm is that there might be no kind of internalized mental activity
if no kind of external activity would be introduced in the child’s life experience.
The mathematics course traditionally occupies a central place in the curriculum of
schools and universities. Learning mathematics in school has an impact on the daily
life of every member of society. Mathematics forms a culture of thinking and person-
ality traits. It is important to understand that ignoring the problems of teaching math-
ematics in a modern school can cause great damage to the technical and economic
development of society. In the logic of the cultural-historical approach, as well as the
theory of activity, the issue of studying the difficulties in mastering the conceptual
content of educational subjects has a long tradition—this topic was given consider-
able attention by L. S. Vygotsky, A. N. Leontiev, D. B. Elkonin, P. Ya. Galperin, V. V.
Davydov, N. F. Talyzina, and others. Within the framework of these approaches, an
idea and understanding of how the process of teaching mathematics should develop

Y. Solovieva
Autonomous University of Puebla and Autonomous University of Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala, Mexico
A. Veraksa (B) · Y. Zinchenko
Faculty of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
e-mail: veraksa@yandex.ru
Federal Scientific Center of Psychological and Multidisciplinary Research, Moscow, Russia

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 1

A. Veraksa and Y. Solovieva (eds.), Learning Mathematics by Cultural-Historical
Theory Implementation, Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical
Focus 7, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66894-4_1
2 Y. Solovieva et al.

is formed. Among the important aspects, the need to develop students’ personalities
through educational means, reliance on scientific, theoretical concepts, meaningful-
ness, and awareness of learning is highlighted, and the result of learning should be
qualitative changes in the content and structure of students’ consciousness. Facto-
rial approach, aimed at statistical calculation of different variable influence on child
development (personal characteristic, components of environment, etc.), was actively
criticized at the dawn of cultural-historical psychology. It is possible to statistically
quite accurately calculate the degree of “influence” on a child’s academic perfor-
mance by his weight at birth or the presence of physical warm-up at the beginning of
each lesson, but in this case we remain at the level of empirical connections, which
not only do not explain anything, but also create false attitudes among teachers. The
“trap” of the factorial approach is that we are not immune to identifying any new
constructs that could potentially influence academic performance, as illustrated by
the emergence of, for example, “math anxiety.” This approach can be overcome only
if we do not limit ourselves to the empirical level of study, but move to the theoretical
level, and instead of analyzing “phenomenon–properties–factors,” we examine the
essence of what is being studied and reproduce the conditions for the formation of a
certain phenomenon in reality. The real problem facing science and teaching prac-
tice, which is obscured by the pseudoscientific concepts of “mathematics anxiety,”
is the problem of the causes of difficulties experienced by children, starting from the
primary school period, in particular, when learning mathematics. Of great concern in
this regard are studies that suggest a genetic and biological basis for “math anxiety”
(Luttenberger, 2018; Júlio-Costa et al., 2019; Carvalho et al., 2022). In the cultural-
historical concept, a special research method was proposed for these purposes—a
formative experiment (Gal’perin, 2002). So, for example, from the standpoint of P.
Ya. Galperin, the problem of underachievement (including in mathematics) is associ-
ated either with the formation in students of the content of actions that is inadequate
to mathematical concepts, or with insufficient development of the properties of the
necessary actions (reasonableness, consciousness, generality, etc.). P. Ya. Galperin
in his research showed that it is precisely in low-achieving students that, through
the effective formation of the necessary actions, it is possible to remove negative
emotions and create a positive attitude toward the learning process (Gal’perin, 2002).
By highlighting “mathematical anxiety” as a special “reason” for academic failure,
we are actually replacing the search for causes with a search for empirical relation-
ships, which is unproductive for both science and practice. A number of studies also
note that “math anxiety” is often a consequence of a person’s general anxiety, which is
caused by the characteristics of the nervous system, manifestations of social anxiety,
or fear of failure (Luttenberger et al., 2018). Also, some researchers identify other
types of subject anxiety, in particular “chemical anxiety” (Bowen, 1999), “foreign
language learning anxiety” (Matsuda & Gobel, 2004), “scientific anxiety” (Mallow
et al., 2010), etc. However, it is important to note that, despite the identification of
these types anxiety, the basis for their development is the general level of anxiety,
which increases in the most vulnerable situations for a person.
1 Introduction 3

From the position of cultural-historical psychology emotional experience

(“perezhivanie”) is the basis for the perception of the social situation of develop-
ment (Fleer et al., 2017). It can be argued that the absence of emotional experience
means the absence of development. Since the developmental situation is social, the
emotional experience determines the process of interaction of the child with others.
In this sense, emotional experience about mathematics can be understood as a result
of living in a social developmental situation initiated by an adult in the process of
interaction with a child. The specificity of interaction gives rise to the corresponding
psychological education, since, according to the basic genetic law of cultural devel-
opment, “Every function in the cultural development of a child appears on the scene
twice, on two levels, first social, then psychological, first between people, as an
interpsychic category, then inside the child, as an intrapsychic category” (Vygotsky,
1983, p. 145). Thus, there is every reason to consider ideas about anxiety in relation to
specific content as the result of one of the variants of the social development situation,
which has developed largely under the influence of adults who attach particularly
important importance to the successful development, in this case, of mathematical
content. It follows from the law that initially anxiety about mathematics exists on
the external plane as a form of interaction between participants in a social situation
of development, which subsequently passes into the internal plane, preventing the
development of mathematics. It is important to note that both children and adults
often experience difficulties in solving not only complex, but also simple mathe-
matical problems, and it is clear that this situation is experienced as a situation of
failure. However, in this case, what and how to change in teaching so that the task
becomes accessible to children, regardless of whether they have “mathematical anxi-
ety” or even mathematical abilities is the most important. The mass school program
is available to all normally developing children without exception, which has been
repeatedly shown in the studies of N. F. Talyzina.
L. S. Vygotsky has emphasized one important feature of the process of psycho-
logical development as a paradox of child development. This process turns out in
a way that what should appear at the end of development is already present in it
at the beginning of development in the general human culture and has to be shared
between the child and the adult. The acquisition of the ideal form of cultural activity
is carried out in the process of interaction between the primary form of the child, as
the child’s external activity and the ideal form, as a kind of activity, existent within
the culture. The bearer of this cultural interaction is the adult. In this case, the source
of development is not environment directly, but the optimum way of organization of
the child’s activity by an adult. In this way, the adult would guarantee an ideal form
of environment to the child.
In his works, L. S. Vygotsky stated that if there is no corresponding ideal form
in the environment, then development will be limited. As an example of such ideal
kind of organization of activity, the process of teaching and learning of mathematics
should be studied. Adult mathematical thinking can be understood as an ideal form
of cultural activity, which is previous form of child’s acquisition of this activity.
Adult’s activity of organization of the process of teaching and learning is an important
component of child development, the mastery of which occurs.
4 Y. Solovieva et al.

The present book is based on the growing interest of international academic

community to Vygotsky’s approach in psychology and education, that is, in all
sciences directed to the study of human development. This interest of the special-
ists from different countries indicates the necessity of implementation of new inno-
vative solution of the problems of teaching and development. Traditionally, these
problems were studied in the works of J. Piaget and continued by constructivist
approach in general. This approach doesn’t correspond to the essential proposals
of the followers of cultural-historical approach. Constructivist approach claims for
development as spontaneous process, while cultural-historical Vygotsky’s approach
claims for development as organized cultural activity, shared between adult and child.
The present book provides theoretical and methodological considerations,
together with the results of the research provided by psychologists and teachers
from different countries, all of them interested in the application and development of
cultural-historical approach. The research presented in the book is aimed to different
aspects of acquisition of mathematical concepts and abilities in preschool period and
in the further stages of educational process. The chapters of the book present the usage
of different cultural symbolic means in the frame of cultural-historical approach as
well as of broad issues of teachers’ education in mathematics. Different chapters
include consideration, comparison, and critical discussion of present programs for
teaching of mathematics at different education levels: preschool age, primary school,
middle, and high school. Researchers from different countries, as participants in the
book have expressed different positions regarding the necessity of early preparation
for introduction of mathematical thinking. Some chapters are devoted to the topic
of the work with psychological content of preparation for teaching at school, such
as imagination, creativity, voluntary activity, and reflective use of symbolic means.
The authors provide comparison of cultural-historical understanding of preparation
for school in comparison with constructivist approach.
Special attention is given to concrete examples of work, educational programs
used that makes possible to replicate the results in various settings. The conditions,
means, and predictors of proper acquisition of mathematical concepts at different
ages and different educational levels (preschoolers, primary, and middle secondary
education) are discussed. Results of longitudinal studies of the development of math-
ematical abilities in children of the first three grades of primary school, studying
according to different mathematical programs show that self-regulation turns out to
be a significant factor for the selection of programs involving either an increased
level of complexity or an intensification of traditional content for the formation of
mathematical skills.
One line of research highlights the necessity of the cultural-historical approach
to the acquisition of concepts based on introduction and development of logical
actions. J. Piaget considered logical concepts as naturally emerging operations. The
development of mathematical thinking in school is closely connected to “natural”
appearance of these operations in children. The authors of the chapters of the book
examine the early stages of introduction of symbolic and logical actions, starting from
preschool age. The chapters explore the formation of multiplicative concepts and
the introduction of special modeling means to the inquiry-based learning in order to
1 Introduction 5

promote students’ actions to the conceptual level of orientation in the coordination of

two magnitudes’ changes. The authors also describe the principles of digital support
design, which aims to scaffold the formation of multiplicative concepts at the very
first stages of math education. The cultural activity view on a psychological study is
presented as the necessity and possibility of organized and orientated introduction and
formation of intellectual actions, which can replace observation of these operations’
spontaneous development.
The majority of the chapters of the book are written from the point of view of
cultural-historical approach in psychology and educational psychology, introduced
by L. S. Vigotsky and his followers in different countries. These chapters are written
on the critical and dialectical position and include proposals for creative modification
of the present system of education. Some of the chapters contrast positions of Piage-
tian approach and modern constructivism and cultural-historical approach and base
their research on the concepts of orientation of the action, introduction of intellectual
activity, differentiation of the goals of the work in preschool and school age, among
other proposals. Different ways of understanding of Vygotsky’s approach in relation
to introduction and teaching of mathematics are reflected in the book.
The book shows theoretical solidity of cultural-historical approach and experi-
ence of its implementation in teaching of mathematical knowledge in childhood and
the study of the process of psychological development. Of great importance is cross-
cultural nature of the whole research, presented in the book, which shows broad
possibilities of implementation of cultural-historical theory in the process of orga-
nization of mathematical education in different countries as opposition to broadly
distributed constructivism. The studies described in the book chapters can be useful
for a teacher both in terms of evaluating existing math training programs and in terms
of the innovations they can introduce.
The global content of the book can serve as a platform for further unification of
the efforts of cultural-historical research and exchange of educational experience in
order to obtain better results in the field of teaching and learning of mathematics.
The book is divided in two parts: (1) Theory and methodology for teaching of
mathematics in cultural-historical approach and (2) Research and proposals for
teaching of mathematics.
The first part, Theory and methodology for teaching of mathematics in cultural-
historical approach, includes seven chapters, as follows.
Chapter 2, “Mathematics as system of cultural-historical knowledge and science,”
is written by Mendoza Hernández Octavio (Mexico) and Berstein Erika Mirna
(Argentina), researchers from National University of Mexico, UNAM. The chapter
analyzes the importance of mathematics as a key piece in the development of scientific
knowledge and human thought throughout the time. The mathematics is presented
as a science and as an instrument for technological advances. The authors claim
that with the help of mathematical models, it is possible to understand and predict
the behavior of physical phenomena that are crucial to survive as a species in this
complicated universe of which we are a part of. Mathematics, as a science, takes an
essential role in the sophistication and technological development of a society. The
6 Y. Solovieva et al.

authors conclude that the correct dissemination and at the appropriate level of under-
standing of mathematics depends on its appropriate introduction from childhood and
from pedagogical work in basic schools.
Chapter 3, entitled as “Development of symbolic functions and imagination
as the basis for learning of mathematic at school: continuation of the dialogue
between Piaget and Vygotsky,” is provided by Gonzáles-Moreno Claudia (Pontifica
University Javeriana, Bogota, Colombia) Rosas-Rivera, Yolanda (National Peda-
gogical University, Mexico); Solovieva, Yulia (Autonomous University of Puebla,
Autonomous University of Tlaxcala, Mexico and Lomonosov Moscow State Univer-
sity, Russian Federation). The chapter is dedicated to the comparisons of Vygotsky’s
and Piaget’s approach in relation to symbolic development in infancy. The authors
present the reflection on the necessity of forming of symbolic function by stages
within cultural-historical approach and its development within Piagetian construc-
tivist approach. Different stages (materialized, perceptive, and verbal actions) for
formation of symbolic functions and imagination in the learning of mathematics
in school-age children are described. Procedures are proposed for the process of
calculating and solving mathematical problems from historical-cultural pedagogical
psychology based on this relationship. Finally, the role of logical thinking is analyzed
considering the way in which logical actions organize the child’s activity through
external mediation and orientation. The authors conclude that learning mathematics
requires the consolidation of the general characteristics of psychological preparation
necessary for school and the elements that make up the particular skills related to
learning this area.
Chapter 4, “Psychological means and mathematical concepts acquisition in
preschool age: which are better to use?,” is written by Alexander Veraksa and
co-authors from Lomonosov Moscow State University. The chapter is dedicated
to the process of assessment of the effectiveness of the formation of mathemat-
ical concepts of size (length, area, volume) in preschool children aged 6–7 years
with different levels of development of regulatory functions. The chapter describes
the experiment, in which the concept of magnitude was formed using traditional,
traditional with play elements, symbolic, and modeling approaches. The approaches
were based on the same actions of children (selection of objects by size through
comparison and measurement with the help of measurements), the same methods of
their implementation, only the situations in which new concepts were introduced and
worked out, and the means offered to children differed. It was found that the develop-
ment of mathematical abilities during formative classes occurs in students regardless
of the approach used. The results of the study outline ways to further investigate
the effectiveness of using traditional and non-traditional approaches in the forma-
tion of mathematical concepts in preschoolers. The authors discuss their results in
Vygotsky-Piaget perspectives on education and educational means in preschool age.
Chapter 5, written by Anastasia Sidneva from Lomonosov Moscow State Univer-
sity, is entitled as “The pre-number period of teaching mathematics: psychological
analysis of the different mathematical programs from the Cultural-Historical point
of view.” The objective of this chapter is to discuss some criteria developed in the
mainstream of the cultural-historical approach to learning for analyzing the most
1 Introduction 7

significant differences in the pre-number period of teaching mathematics from a

psychological point of view. The authors show that the most significant differences
between the programs concerned the type of concepts proposed for assimilation; the
type of actions by which these concepts were to be assimilated and practiced; and how
the means of these actions were provided. It seems that the authors of the programs
do not always understand what issues these provisions of cultural-historical approach
were introduced to resolve. They are, for example, the understanding that the content
of instruction and the sequence of studying topics should ensure the rationality of
action; eliminate formalism from mathematical concepts; that materialization and
modeling are necessary to fix generalized methods for the purpose of further work
with these models as means of solving problems, that the speech form is mandatory
for the formation of consciousness of action, etc. The chapter concludes that the task
of devising a more reflexive and less formal use of cultural-historical approach to
create educational programs is still relevant.
Chapter 6 is written by Elaine Sampaio Araujo (University of Sao Paolo, Brazil)
and is entitled “Teaching orienteering activity: principles and practices for the math-
ematics teaching organization.” The author has developed the chapter to considera-
tion of OBEDUC Project, which presents pedagogical principles and practices that
may set up as basic properties that conduct the mathematical teaching organization
at the early years of Elementary Education. The chapter stresses the importance
of teaching organization for the results of education. The author claims that the
Teaching Orienteering Activity, based on the cultural-historical theory, is a general
kind of pedagogical organization and discusses an activity in which this thesis is
developed.
Chapter 7, “Processes of abstraction, generalization, and mathematical concepts
formation: a reflection based on the Cultural-Historical Theory,” is written by Josélia
Euzébio da Rosa (Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina—UNISUL, Brazil). The
chapter stresses that the teaching of and learning of mathematics constitute one of
the challenges for Brazilian school education and the role of positive motivation for
learning of mathematics at school and the possibilities of organizing mathematics
teaching which trigger the students’ learning. Experimental studies were carried
out based on dialectical logic and in light of two developments of the Historical-
Cultural Theory: Development Teaching Theory and Teaching Guidance Activity.
The research involved teachers and students of all the teaching levels. The chapter
indicates that the failure in mathematics teaching and learning process depends on
the failure of the work with the processes of abstraction, generalization and concepts
formation based on logical-formal scheme supported by dialectical logic.
Chapter 8, “Teaching mathematical problem solving in elementary school,”
is written by Rosas-Rivera, Yolanda, (National Pedagogical University, Mexico),
Solovieva, Yulia, (Autonomous University of Puebla, Autonomous University of
Tlaxcala, Mexico and Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian Federation)
and Luis Quintanar Rojas, (Autonomous University of Tlaxcala, Mexico). The objec-
tive of this chapter is to show a proposal for the analysis of the teaching methods
of mathematics that are used in elementary school according to Vygotsky’s and
Piaget’s proposals. In our study, the elements of the teaching method are approached
8 Y. Solovieva et al.

from the theory of activity applied to teaching process. The authors propose qual-
itative instruments to identify the organization of teachers’ teaching methods and
the level of assimilation achieved by students. The empirical work, described in the
chapter, consisted in two aspects: (1) an interview with third grade teachers, (2)
non-participatory observation of classes, and (3) dynamic evaluation of the level
of assimilation of mathematical concepts in the students. The results of analysis of
the data showed that mathematical content and its organization in different levels
of action (materialized, perceptual, and external verbal) are essential for learning
mathematics, which are absent in Piagetian and constructivist approach. The authors
established profound differences between constructivist Piagetian approach and
historical-cultural approach to teaching of mathematics in primary school.
The second part, Research and proposals for teaching of mathematics, includes
seven chapters, as follows.
Chapter 9, written by Bukhalenkova D. A., Sidneva A. N., Aslanova M. S.
and Vasilyeva M. D. (Lomonosov Moscow State university, Moscow, Russia), is
entitled “Development of Mathematical Skills of Primary School Children with
Different Levels of Regulation in CHAT-based and Traditional programs.” This
chapter presents the results of a longitudinal study that examined the development of
mathematical skills of primary school children in relation to two types of factors: the
child’s educational environment (more specifically—two programs, one was built
according to the principles of CHAT and the other—in more traditional way) and
individual cognitive characteristics (children’ regulatory skills). This study revealed
that it cannot be suggested that one program is more suitable than the other for
children with a certain level of executive functions; children with different levels
of executive functions develop mathematical skills at their own pace independently
of the program they follow. The results of the study are analyzed in two theoretical
perspectives of learning and development. The first one, Piaget’s approach, empha-
sizes the need to adapt programs to the child’s level of development. The other one,
Vygotsky’s approach, reflects the idea that training programs should be built in such
a way that learning leads to development, and that those mathematical abilities that
otherwise would not have arisen, are formed.
Chapter 10, written by Vysotskaya E. V., Yanishevskaya M. A., Lobanova A.
D., Taysin M. (Federal Scientific Center for Psychological and Multidisciplinary
Research, Moscow, Russia), is entitled “Scaffolding multiplicative concepts’ forma-
tion: a way of digital support.” The chapter is dedicated to consideration of balance
scale problem as widely known subject for studying the development of thinking and
in creating the activity-orientated learning materials. The difficulties of the students
during discovery of the general way of achieving equilibrium despite the avail-
ability of hands-on trials with appropriate equipment are described. The authors have
examined the early stages of multiplicative concepts’ formation within the Activity
Approach framework and included special modeling means to the inquiry-based
learning in order to promote students’ actions to the conceptual level of orientation
in the coordination of two magnitudes’ changes. Different kinds of external orienta-
tion and work with the models are presented, so that the students were able to start
from the most tricky tasks with several weights located in different positions. The
1 Introduction 9

chapter described the principles of digital support design, which aims to scaffold the
formation of multiplicative concepts at the very first stages of math education.
Chapter 11, “The math club as a space for teachers’ learning: an analysis based on
cultural-historical activity theory,” is elaborated by Brazilian collogues, who work
at different universities: Anemari Roesler Luersen Vieira Lopes (Federal University
De Santa Maria, Rio Grande Do Sul); Wellington Lima Cedro (Federal Univerisity
De Goiás, Goiás). The chapter describes the proposal of the work with the project
of The Mathematics Club, which has involved the students from Mathematics and
Pedagogy. The project provides a learning space for teaching education once it offers
the student teachers a chance to organize, to apply as well as to plan teaching activ-
ities. The authors describe the work as based on the idea that one cannot enclose
the practice through individualities due to it is something necessarily shared there-
fore all actions are carried out by everybody involved in the project. The Mathe-
matics Club is developed in a perspective of cultural-historical activity theory. The
chapter concludes that, the student teacher searches for conditions that involve him
to organize his teaching in order to transform it into his own learning.
Chapter 12, “The development of mathematical conceptual thinking: a cultural-
historical experience in the context of Brazilian public school,” is elaborated by
Patrícia Lopes Jorge Franco, Andréa Maturano Longarezi e Fabiana Fiorezi de Marco
(Federal University of Uberlandia, Brasil). The authors discuss the development of
mathematical conceptual thinking from a historical-cultural experience in the context
of the Brazilian public school. The study was based on the dialectical-historical mate-
rialist method and the Teaching Guiding Activity, whose theoretical-methodological
guidelines favor subjects to interrelate their teaching and study activities through a
didactic-formative intervention procedure. The chapter discusses how the organiza-
tion of teaching for the development of students’ mathematical conceptual thinking
is constituted as a content-form of development of those involved. The results of
the study indicate that the teacher presented the development of mental action on
teaching, offering didactic elements capable of guiding students to think and act
through scientific concepts in Algebra. The authors concluded that the students
achieved a certain mastery of the means and of the logical mental actions of the
internal movement represented by the theoretical concept of functions and linear and
quadratic equations, based on the links and nexuses that compose them.
Chapter 13, “Contributions of the cultural-historical theory in the teaching activity
of time and area measures,” is written by Ana Paula Gladcheff Munhoz (University
of São Paulo); Moisés Alves Fraga (University of São Paulo); Neusa Maria Marques
de Souza UFMS, (Instituto de Matemática e Estatística, Post-graduate program in
Mathematics); Amanda Cristina Tedesco Piovezan (University of São Paulo); Anelisa
Kisielewski Esteves (University Anhanguera Uniderp, Master’s Program in Science
and Mathematics). The chapter is dedicated to the topic of the development of the
measurement concept at school depends directly on determining the quality to be
quantified. The authors provide three essential phases of the process of appropriation
of knowledge: highlighting the quantities to be measured; comparing quantities of the
same nature and numerically expressing the result of the comparison. This chapter
approaches the work with quantities that, perhaps, are considered the most complex
10 Y. Solovieva et al.

to be understood, mainly by children: the quantities time and area. The authors
provide the evidence of elaboration and discussion of teaching situations for these
concepts, revealing and quantifying the quality that they express, based on cultural-
historical theory and on the assumptions of the teaching-orienteering activity. The
authors discuss a “non-procedural” teaching, which transcends the reading of hours
and calendars, the application of formulas disconnected from meanings and dialogue
about possibilities for the development of work with measurements in the early years
of Elementary School, through Learning Triggering Situations.
Chapter 14 is written by Inger Eriksson from Sweden and entitled as “Collective
reasoning and the use of learning models for relationships between quantities, as
suggested by the El’konin Davydov curriculum.” This chapter focuses on learning
activity that was suggested by El’konin and Davydov as a framework for teachers
to design opportunities for students to emerge collective mathematical reasoning.
The data for the chapter were taken from a 3-year longitudinal research project in
which learning activity was used to design teaching, tasks, and learning models
in a multicultural and multilingual Swedish primary school. As a result of using
this framework, a situation was highlighted whereby the learning models specific
to learning activity had been constructed by second language students aged 6 and
7 years as they emerged collective mathematical reasoning that focused on comparing
two different quantities. The author points out the contribution to previous research
concerning how learning models can be used in such student groups for collective
reasoning about relationships between quantities is twofold; that is, (1) the use of the
learning models can help students and teachers to return to the problem they have
jointly identified in the collective reasoning and (2) the use of the learning models
can help students who struggle with different linguistic dilemmas to jointly reflect
on both their own and others’ arguments.
Chapter 15, written by the collective of the authors from Sweden, Inger Eriksson,
Jenny Fred, Anna-Karin Nordin, Martin Nyman & Sanna Wettergren, is entitled
“Learning models” as a means of materialising algebraic thinking in joint actions—
results from a design study in grades 1 and 5 in Sweden.” The chapter is based on a
design research project based on Davydov’s principles of learning activity. The aim
of the chapter is to exemplify the functions learning models can have in visualizing
students’ algebraic thinking when they collectively discuss algebraic expressions.
The data was comprised of videotaped research lessons in grades 1 and 5 of primary
school, respectively. The analysis indicates that the learning models enhanced the
students’ joint exploration of the idea behind algebraic expressions and thus materi-
alized their algebraic thinking in the whole-class discussions in three ways: (1) mate-
rializing an argument, (2) materializing a problem, and (3) materializing a collective
memory.
The book is useful for broad sector of the readers, such as pedagogues, psychol-
ogists, educators, neuropsychologist, and all professionals interested in the topic of
conceptual development of the children and organization of the process of teaching
and learning of mathematics.
1 Introduction 11

References

Bowen, СW. (1999). Development and score validation of a Chemistry Laboratory Anxiety Instru-
ment (CLAI) for college chemistry students. Educational and Psychological Measurement,
59(1), 171–185.
Carvalho, M. R. S., Barbosa de Carvalho, A. H., Paiva, G. M., Andrade Jorge, C. C., Dos Santos,
F. C., Koltermann, G., de Salles, J. F., Moeller, K., de Oliveira, M., Wood, G., & Haase, V.
G. (2022). MAOA-LPR polymorphism and math anxiety: A marker of genetic susceptibility
to social influences in girls? Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1516(1), 135–150.
https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14814
Fleer, M., González, R. F., & Veresov, N. (Eds.). (2017). Perezhivanie, emotions and subjectivity:
Advancing Vygotsky’s legacy. Springer.
Gal’perin, P. Y. (2002). Lectures in psychology. Publishing House “University”: High school. (in
Russian)
Júlio-Costa, A., Martins, A. A. S., Wood, G., Almeida, M. P. D., Miranda, M. D., Haase, V. G., &
Carvalho, M. R. S. (2019). Heterosis in COMT Val158Met polymorphism contributes to sex-
differences in children’s math anxiety. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(1013).
Luttenberger, S., Wimmer, S., & Paechter, M. (2018). Spotlight on math anxiety. Psychology
Research and Behavior Management, 11, 311–322. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S141421
Mallow, J., Kastrup, H., Bryant, F. B., Hislop, N., Shefner, R., & Udo, M. (2010). Science anxiety,
science attitudes, and gender: Interviews from a binational study. Journal of Science Education
and Technology, 19(4), 356–369. https://www.learntechlib.org/p/167165/
Matsuda, S., & Gobel, P. (2004). Anxiety and predictors of performance in the foreign language
classroom. System, 32, 21–36.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1983). Problems of the development of mind. Pedagogy. (In Russian).
 Part I
Theory and Methodology for Teaching
of Mathematics in Cultural-Historical
Approach
Chapter 2
Mathematics as a System of Cultural
Historical Knowledge and Science

Mendoza Hernández Octavio

In this chapter, we analyze the importance of mathematics as a key piece in the

development of scientific knowledge and human thought throughout the time.
Thanks to mathematics, many of the technological advances that we enjoy today
have been materialized. In addition, with the help of mathematical models, it is
possible for us to understand and predict the behavior of physical phenomena that
are crucial to survive as a species in this complicated universe of which we are a part
of.
The sophistication and technological development of a society, in the moment of
time when you look at it, is a true reflection of the complexity of the mathematics
which are available. Therefore, the correct dissemination and at the appropriate level
of it, from childhood and in basic schools, is essential for this process of progress in
the future to be maintained and bear fruit.
The development of abstraction processes in human thought is a rather complex
phenomenon. The formal thinking (which allows us to “calculate”) and the so-called
intuitive thinking (which allows us to create) must be encouraged and developed from
childhood if we want to maintain our scientific advances and not fall into backward-
ness and darkness, as has already happened in our history. It is important to note
that the society of our days could not work without mathematics. All technology
depends on it and is often present without noticing it. Sometimes it is used mathe-
matics that have been developed two thousand years ago, other times we use more
recent mathematics, and the above is due to the fact that mathematical discoveries
never expire and rather they fructify and interconnect with the new developments in
a very surprising ways.
The development of mathematics has accompanied, since ancient times, to the
growth of humanity in all aspects. It is believed that the development of the incipient

M. H. Octavio (B)
Institute of Mathematics, National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM, México, Mexico
e-mail: omendoza@matem.unam.mx

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 15

A. Veraksa and Y. Solovieva (eds.), Learning Mathematics by Cultural-Historical
Theory Implementation, Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical
Focus 7, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66894-4_2
16 M. H. Octavio

mathematics of the early days, motivated by the resolution of everyday problems,

has preceded and promoted writing. The first known records of this phenomenon
date from the time of the Babylonians more than 10,000 years ago.
The humanity, in its long journey through time, has gone through several funda-
mental moments where miraculous leaps have been made in mathematical develop-
ment, which have given a transcendental boost to the tasks of scientific knowledge,
and also to everyday things such as trade, agriculture, medicine, and navigation.
In what follows, and in order not to lengthen or complicate the discourse, we will
give a summary outline of some of these periods. We recommend to the readers, who
want to know in more depth the history of mathematics throughout the centuries, the
works of Steward (2014) and Wussing (1998).

2.1 The First Leap Toward Abstraction in Human

Thought: The Concept of Number

The concept of number is one of the first miracles that we have had in our long
development since the most remote times. It is an extremely complex concept that
became real and visible as a result of several very fortunate events that led us to it.
Paraphrasing Steward (2014), according to known records “everything started with
small clay tokens, 10,000 years ago in the Near East”. According to Steward, more
than 10,000 years ago, in the peoples of Mesopotamia, the accountants of those
times already kept records of the assets of each owner, even if writing had not yet
been invented and symbols for numbers did not exist. Instead of numbers (because
they did not yet exist) small clay tokens of different shapes were used, with which
they represented basic products of the time. For example, the spherical clay tokens
represented bushels of grain, the cylindrical ones represented animals (cattle), and
the ovoid ones represented jugs of oil. As time went by, the tokens became more and
more complicated to represent more goods. This way of representing and counting
everyday goods is the first fundamental step on the path toward number symbols
and the concept of number. According to Steward’s narrations, these tokens were
used to keep records of assets, for tax or financial purposes, or as legal proof of
ownership. To avoid falsifications in these property records, the accountants of those
times kept said tokens (which corresponded to the assets of a certain person) in a clay
container which they sealed to prevent fraud, and when an inventory was required,
it was broken the vessel that contained the tokens, in order to know what the owner
had. However, repeatedly breaking the container to learn of the contents or to update
it was a cumbersome task. So it was decided to draw symbols on the outside of
the vessel that told us about the content. At some point they realized that it was no
longer needed the clay tokens of the vessels since the symbols used to describe the
content were more than enough. This obvious but crucial step is the starting point
of what was the writing and the symbols to represent the numerals. The marks on
these vessels evolved little by little until they became the numerals we know today:
2 Mathematics as a System of Cultural Historical Knowledge and Science 17

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. However, it should be noted that the previous numerals

and the abstract concept of number took the humanity several thousand more years
to come to fruition. What prompted such a development? Well, with the passing of
the millennia and the development of agriculture, permanent settlements of people
appeared, forming a series of city states: Babylon, Erido, Lagash, Sumer, and Ur. With
the impulse of such development, it is believed that the primitive symbols inscribed
on tablets gave rise to the first writing, which is recorded, called “cuneiform” and
that was developed by the Sumerians around the year 3000 BC.

For those times, the Sumerians already used a numbering system that they applied
for trade and daily accounting and also in astronomy. The numeral system invented
by the Sumerians was positional with base 60, and there are still certain vestiges
of use nowadays since is used to measure time (1 h is 60 min, and 1 min is 60 s)
and angular measurements (a complete turnaround the circle is 360 degrees). The
Sumerian sexagesimal numeral system did not use a sign for zero, which did not
appear until Hellenistic times (323-31 B.C.). From the mathematical point of view,
some of the most important novelties, recorded in the Babylonian tablets, refer to
the solution of linear and quadratic equations and also to the so-called “Pythagorean
theorem” and its numerical consequences, which was enunciated in all its generality
and proved in the famous book “The Elements” by Euclid that appeared until the
Hellenistic period.
18 M. H. Octavio

2.2 The Beginnings of Geometry and the Axiomatic Method

It can be said that the symbolic language of mathematics began in the Mesopotamian
period with the birth of the idea of number and its different representations. This
notion was very important since allowed a type of reasoning called “symbolic” which
consisted of the manipulation of symbols (numbers, variables, or unknowns) to solve
some of the first accounting problems of humanity. It should be noted that, starting
from the middle ages, this symbolic reasoning took on a new impulse and eventually
led us to the invention of algebra and mathematical logic, which have played a
fundamental role in the development of modern mathematics of nowadays.
The interest in shapes, images, and drawings are part of what we could call
“visual” reasoning that is of great help in understanding certain abstract concepts
of mathematics, both ancient and modern. Although images are less formal than
symbols, it should be noted that they are a powerful and potential incentive for abstract
ideas and the development of what could be called “mathematical intuition”, without
which a mathematician of our days is incapable of promoting the development of
it. Such a visual intuition is a fundamental characteristic in order to introduce and
develop the study of shapes, that is, geometry. Moreover, it is somehow a measure
that shows us the development and complexity of the human brain. Although the
interest of the ancients in shapes already appears in some Babylonian tablets, the
first rigorous use of shapes (geometry) along with the introduction of certain formal
rules to manipulate them occur in the work “The Elements” by Euclid of Alexandria,
also known as the “father of geometry”, who is believed to have lived between 325
and 265 B.C. It should be noted that, in his work, Euclid highlights the importance
that any geometric statement, which is supposed to be true in the eyes of “geometric
intuition”, must have a rigorous logical proof. The highlight point of Euclid’s work
is the proof that there are exactly five regular solids (made up of identical faces): the
tetrahedron (made up of 4 equilateral triangles), the cube (made up of 6 squares), the
octahedron (made up of eight equilateral triangles), the dodecahedron (formed by
twelve regular pentagons), and the icosahedron (formed by 20 equilateral triangles).
Below we show a figure of the five regular solids, also known as “platonic solids”.
2 Mathematics as a System of Cultural Historical Knowledge and Science 19

The importance of Euclid’s work “The Elements” is that, in order to synthesize

and to structure the knowledge of his time, Euclid invented a procedure called the
“axiomatic method” with which he was able to achieve his goal in a brilliant and
spectacular way. Such axiomatic procedure is of crucial importance nowadays for
the development and systematization of the mathematical knowledge. To give an
idea of the importance of the axiomatic method, Euclid did not limit himself to
affirming that a theorem is true, but also offered a rigorous proof of it, unlike his
predecessors where only this or that result was stated as if it were a recipe for kitchen
room. However, what is a theorem? and what is a proof? A theorem in geometry is a
statement that tells us about certain properties that a geometric figure is supposed to
satisfy (e.g., the sum of the internal angles of a triangle gives us 180°), which does
not have to be evident. A proof of a theorem is a finite sequence of steps, where each
step is a logical consequence of the previous one, until reaching the statement that
the theorem tells us. Now, each statement that is affirmed, in the steps of the proof of
the theorem, has to be justified by referring to previous theorems. At this point, the
greatness of Euclid is that he realized that this chain of reasoning cannot be carried
backwards indefinitely and that there must therefore be a finite number of statements
that cannot be proved and with which (as if were bricks) it was possible to build the
“building” of geometry. In order to do that, Euclid started with: (a) a list of primitive
notions (which would play a role similar to our alphabet), for example: point, line,
circle, triangle, angle, etc., with which to build geometric statements, and (b) a list of
“axioms” (known as Euclid’s postulates), which are geometric statements assumed
to be true because they are obvious (this is where geometric intuition is important).
These postulates are the following:
(P1) By two distinct points only crosses a straight line.
(P2) A segment can be extended in an unlimited line.
(P3) A circle can be drawn from a central point and any radius.
(P4) All the right angles are equal to each other.
sum is less than two right angles, then those two lines will intersect on that side.
According to Euclid, the geometry is reduced to a logical game (like chess),
where theorems are built from primitive notions and axioms, using the logic. In
analogy with chess, the primitive notions are the chess pieces and the board; and the
axioms or postulates are the rules of the game. In this case, a theorem is something
like a determined position (at some point in the game) of the chess pieces, and the
proof of such theorem is precisely the process (game moves) that led us to such
position. Despite its purely playful aspect, the geometry has had a major impact on
the development of physics and chemistry. One of the most surprising applications,
made since ancient times, was given by Eratosthenes of Cyrene, who around 250 B.C.
managed to estimate the size of the earth. According to Eratosthenes computation,
the circumference of the earth is 39,250 km, and the current one is 39,840 km.
20 M. H. Octavio

2.3 The Method of Coordinates and the Infinitesimal

Calculus

For the purposes of human convenience, and to simplify its dissemination and
teaching, mathematics is usually divided or classified into areas such as: geometry,
algebra, number theory, topology, and analysis. On the other hand, modern math-
ematical thought teaches us that there are no rigid boundaries between apparently
different areas. Rather, there are connecting bridges between areas that are supposed
to be foreign, through which the problems from one area can be solved using methods
from another. The greatest advances in mathematics research often occur when an
unexpected connection is made between areas that previously seemed completely
disconnected.
One of the first surprising connections between areas other than mathematics was
established by René Descartes (1596−1650), who managed to establish a connecting
bridge between algebra and geometry using his method of coordinates. In everyday
life we are used to spaces of two and three dimensions (the plane and the space).
The key to interpreting multidimensional spaces is precisely to introduce what is
currently called a coordinate system. The brilliant idea that Descartes had was to
interpret the geometry of the plane by assigning to each point P of the plane a pair of
real numbers (x, y) called coordinates, in the following way: a point O of the plane
(which we will call the origin) is chosen; then, through the origin we draw two lines
(coordinate axes) that intersect at the origin point forming right angles. With this,
we have the west–east axis (horizontal) and the south–north axis (vertical). Then,
the coordinates (x, y) give us the position of point P, with respect to these coordinate
axes, and can be interpreted as follows. We start at the point O and move a distance
x (respectively, − x) to the east (west) if x is positive (respectively, negative); and
then a distance y (respectively, − y) to the north (south) if y is positive (respectively,
negative), thus arriving at the point P. In particular, note that the origin point O has
as coordinates the pair (0, 0). Other examples of coordinates of points in the plane
can be seen in the following figure.
2 Mathematics as a System of Cultural Historical Knowledge and Science 21

Coordinates work similarly in the space, and only now we need three coordinates
(x, y, z), as can be illustrated in the following figure.

Following the previous idea of the coordinate axes, the number of dimensions of
the geometric space in question is determined by the quantity of numbers that we
need to specify the position of a given point with respect to the chosen origin. In this
way the “geometric loci” and “graphs” (points, lines, curves, etc.) can be interpreted
and studied by using algebraic expressions. For example, in the case of the plane,
each equation in two variables of the form ax + by + c = 0, with a2 + b2 not zero,
corresponds exactly to a line in the plane and vice versa. On the other hand, a circle of
radius r and centered at the point with coordinates (a, b) corresponds to the algebraic
expression (x − a)2 + (y − b)2 = r 2 .
It is worth mentioning that the coordinate method was also developed by Pierre
de Fermat (1607−1665), who worked on the same type of problems as Descartes did
at approximately the same time. The works of Descartes and Fermat complemented
each other, and this is why both are considered the fathers of what is known today as
“analytical geometry”, which will become a key piece for the born of the so-called
infinitesimal calculus.
The coordinate method has been fundamental for the development of mathematics
and other sciences. Such a method is used in everyday situations, and we are not
even aware of it. For example, all the computer graphics use an internal coordinate
system, and the geometry that appears on our screens is handled algebraically. Coor-
dinate systems are used for navigation systems, both for ships and aircraft, and for
mapping. The effectiveness of mathematics, as a way of understanding and modeling
the universe around us, is due to the fact that it can be adapted and used to transfer
ideas from one area of science to another. Therefore, mathematics is an indispensable
tool for technology transfer and the development of science in general.
In the middle of the sixteen century and at the end of the seventeenth, the tran-
sition from feudalism to capitalism took place. This brought, among other things,
22 M. H. Octavio

the consolidation of mathematics and natural sciences in society with an intensity

that grew as the new production regime was consolidated. The mathematics is nour-
ished more and more by the technical problems arising from the development of the
productive forces and the natural sciences. With this, it became crucial to develop
a mathematical theory that would serve as a tool to understand the movement of
bodies and that would allow the development of practical mechanisms and tools for
the industrial development. Hydraulic engineers and builders (of ships and fortifi-
cations) needed a more theoretical treatment of the physics–mathematics sciences
(which did not exist), with which they could face the enormous number of technical
problems they faced in their day to day. For example, the energy relations between the
moving parts of machinery (hydraulic wheels, etc.) were carried out with empirical
and approximate calculations since the mathematics of that time was not sufficiently
developed or simply did not exist. The infinitesimal calculus was the mathematical
theory, invented in 1680, which served as the basis to solve all these shortcom-
ings and to develop technical–scientific progress to unsuspected levels. This work
was possible thanks to the previous works of Pierre de Fermat and René Descartes.
The fathers of the calculus were Isaac Newton (1643−1727) and Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz (1646−1716). It should be noted that before the invention of infinitesimal
calculus there were a large number of failed attempts, which served as a basis to better
understand the concept of “variable quantity” and that of “instantaneous change” of
a given magnitude.
The infinitesimal calculus has as its main idea to describe and study the process
of “instantaneous change” of a specific magnitude (velocity, population growth,
temperature, pressure, etc.) and has two main branches: (1) the differential calculus,
and (2) the integral calculus. Given a curve in the plane, the “geometric interpretation”
of the differential calculus has to do with the problem of finding the tangent line to
a point on such curve and that of the integral calculus is related with the problem of
finding the area under such curve.
The tangent line to a given point on the curve:
2 Mathematics as a System of Cultural Historical Knowledge and Science 23

The area under the curve given by the expression y = f (x) and included between
the lines x = a and x = b:

The infinitesimal calculus became a powerful tool that served both physicists,
chemists, and engineers to obtain mathematical models (through the so-called
differential equations) of certain natural systems. For example, in the design of
airplanes, automobiles, suspension bridges, buildings, growth of a given population,
the behavior of epidemics, the calculation of trajectories of space probes, etc.
The impetuous development of the natural sciences, supported by the new tools
provided by the infinitesimal calculus (and its subsequent developments), resulted
in the emergence of new technical sciences and engineering. These new sciences
had to be organized with the creation of new scientific centers called “polytechnic
schools”. The main center, which served as the base for those that followed, was the
very famous “Ecole Polytechnique” in Paris, founded in 1794.
With the industrial revolution and the consolidation of the means of production,
mathematics was occupying a central place in the training of engineers in higher
technical schools. Furthermore, together with the natural sciences, they began to
constitute solid specialties that founded independent scientific and mathematical
institutes, where mathematics is one of the fundamental subjects.

2.4 The Non-Euclidean Geometries

At the end of the nineteen century, the geometry flourished with a vertiginous devel-
opment of its scope, contents, new methods, and internal structuring. One of the
starting points, in this new development, has to do with the famous “Euclid’s fifth
postulate” (P5) which says that: If a line l cuts two others n and m forming interior
angles on one side, provided that their sum is less than two right angles, then those
two lines will intersect on that side.
24 M. H. Octavio

In the following figure, we illustrate (P5), where it can be seen that lines n and m
intersect exactly on the side where the sum of angles 1 and 2 are less than two right
angles:

This postulate was not evident to many mathematicians, and therefore, they wanted
to deduce it as a theorem from the other four. Despite all the frustrated attempts, at
the end of the eighteen century, other hypotheses equivalent to the fifth postulate had
already been found, such as: (q5) the sum of the internal angles of a triangle is equal
to two right angles, or also (p5) given a line L and a point P that is not on such line,
there exists a unique line M which passes through P and is parallel to L. Note that,
although (p5) is somewhat evident, in the case of (q5) is no longer so; and yet they
are equivalent to the fifth postulate (P5).
The continued failures to prove Euclid’s fifth postulate led to a change of approach
to this problem. Instead of proving this postulate directly, the so-called proof method
by “reduction to absurdity” was tried. That is, replace the fifth postulate with a new
one that consists of the negation of (p5), and with the help of the other four, obtain
some contradiction. Such a scheme of indirect proof of the fifth postulate continued
unsuccessfully well into the nineteen century.
The first mathematician who understood that the fifth postulate could not be
deduced from the other four and that therefore other perfectly valid geometries
could be obtained was Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777−1855). This leap in thought
caused an earthquake in the scientific world, since he raised the need to differ-
entiate between geometry (as a mathematical discipline) and space (as a physical
science of our world). On the real structure of our physical space, physics and
astronomy had to decide, as really happened some time later, with the famous “gen-
eral theory of relativity” of the physicist Albert Einstein (1879−1955), where the
mathematical apparatus necessary to Einstein’s theory of relativity was supported
precisely by these new geometries developed by the mathematicians Janos Bolyai
2 Mathematics as a System of Cultural Historical Knowledge and Science 25

(1802−1860), Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevski (1792−1856), and Georg Friedrich

Bernhard Riemann (1826−1866).
The non-Euclidean geometries that Bolyai, Gauss, and Lobachevski developed
are currently known as “hyperbolic geometries”; in these geometries it can be shown
that for a line L and a point P that is not in L there are infinite lines parallel to L
passing through point P; in hyperbolic geometries, the sum of the interior angles of
a triangle is less than two right angles. On the other hand, Riemann developed the
so-called “elliptical geometries” in which it is proved that for a straight line L and a
point P that is not in L, there is no straight line parallel to L that passes through the
point P; in elliptical geometries, the sum of the interior angles of a triangle is greater
than two right angles. It is worth mentioning that it was precisely Riemann who raised
the problem of the study of space in the most general way possible, considering any
n-dimensional variety for it. This mathematical work by Riemann, on n-dimensional
geometries and space, was the basis on which Einstein’s general theory of relativity
was founded.

In summary, we can say that the change of thought between geometry and space,
given by mathematicians, caused a revolution in the world of physics, making
possible many of the technological advances that we now enjoy without realizing
it. For example, the famous GPS navigation system is made possible by Einstein’s
general theory of relativity. This GPS system is essential in all the transportation
systems in the world; emergency services and disaster relief also rely on GPS.
Many daily activities such as banking, mobile telephony, and electricity distribu-
tion networks are more efficient thanks to the chronometric accuracy provided by
GPS.

2.5 The Mathematical Logic and the Set Theory

At the beginning of the twentie century, the path of the axiomatization of geometry
reached its culmination with the work of the mathematician David Hilbert (1862–
1943). Hilbert discovered flaws and logical errors in the system of axioms posed by
26 M. H. Octavio

Euclid. To remedy them, he posed a new list of axioms (21 in all) and discussed his
role in the Euclidean geometry.
Hilbert also raised the requirements that a system of axioms must meet in the
construction of any mathematical theory. The first requirement of such a theory is
that it be consistent, which means that the axioms are not contradictory; and the
second one is that such system of axioms be complete; that is, to be broad enough
to be able to demonstrate any theorem that appears in the content of such theory.
The proof that non-Euclidean geometries are possible shows that the Euclid’s fifth
postulate is independent of the other four.
In his work on the axiomatization of geometry, Hilbert showed that the axioms
of geometry can be reduced to those of arithmetic, and therefore, the consistency
of geometry reduces to the consistency of arithmetic. However, this reduction did
not solve the problem, since at that time it was not known if the arithmetic was
consistent or not; and even more, it was not even clear what are the natural numbers.
With respect to the natural numbers, Giuseppe Peano (1858−1932) raised in 1889 a
series of three axioms that described the main properties of such numbers:
(A1) There exists the number 0;
(A2) Every natural number n has a successor s(n);
(A3) (Principle of mathematical induction) If P(n) is a property of numbers such
that: P(0) is true, and if every time P(n) is true, it follows that P(s(n)) is also true,
and then P(n) is true for all natural n.
Using the above axiomatics, Peano was able to define the natural numbers 1, 2,
3,…, in terms of such axioms. For example, 1 = s(0), 2 = s(s(0)), and so on. He also
defined the operations of addition and product of natural numbers and showed that
such a system satisfies the usual properties. One of the advantages of this axiom-
atization is that, if we want to prove that the natural numbers exist, we have to
construct a system that satisfies all the Peano’s axioms. Therefore, the construc-
tion of such a system became a fundamental problem at that time. In 1884, Gottlob
Frege (1848−1925) tried to solve this problem by building the natural numbers from
simpler objects: sets. With such a construction, Frege discovered that he could reduce
all arithmetic of natural numbers to logic. One of the assumptions that Frege had
made, in his foundation of the natural numbers, is that any “reasonable” property
legitimately defined a set which consisted of all the elements satisfying that prop-
erty. Unfortunately, Bertrand Arthur Willian Russell (1872−1970) showed with an
example (now known as the Russell’s paradox) that not any “reasonable” property
could define a set. Russell tried to repair the flaw in Fegre’s construction. For this he
had to restrict the type of properties that could be used to define a set and show that
such restrictions did not lead to paradoxes. In the period from 1910 to 1913, Russell
and Alfred North Whitehead (1861−1947) in their work “Principia Mathematica”
created a complicated technique called “type theory” that achieved this goal.
In 1920, Hilbert proposed a research project, which became known as the “Hilbert
Program”, in which it was intended that mathematics be formulated on a solid and
logical basis. Hilbert believed that all mathematics followed from a finite system
of correctly chosen axioms, and that such an axiomatic system could be proved to
2 Mathematics as a System of Cultural Historical Knowledge and Science 27

be consistent. He also believed that every mathematical statement could be proved

or disproved and that, in principle, every mathematical problem could be solved.
Unfortunately, in 1931, Kurt Gödel (1906−1978) tore Hilbert’s program to pieces.
In that year, Gödel showed that it cannot be proved the completeness of any large
enough non-contradictory formal system containing Peano’s axiomatics. Therefore,
there exist mathematical statements that cannot be proved or disproved. An intriguing
consequence of Gödel’s work is that any axiomatic system for mathematics must be
incomplete: it is not possible to elaborate a complete and non-contradictory system
of axioms that englobe the development of the mathematics. Gödel’s work resulted
in the development of the computability theory and later the mathematical logic
as an autonomous discipline in the 1930s−1940s. All of the above served as the
basis for what would be the theoretical computing developed by Alonso Church
(1903−1995) and Alan Turing (1912−1954), which has had an impressive impact
on today’s technology, making possible the advent of the computers.

References

Chapter References

Steward, I. (2014). Historia de las matemáticas en los últimos 10,000 años. Editorial: Crítica
México, primera edición en español, 312 páginas.
Wussing, H. (1998). Lecciones de Historia de las Matemáticas. Siglo XXI de España Editores, S.
A. Primera edición en castellano, 1998, 345 páginas. ISBN:84-323-0966-4.

Complementary References

Aleksandrov, A. D., Kolmogorov A. N., & Lavrent’ev, M. A., Mathematics its Content, Methods and
Meaning. Volumes one, two and three. The M.I.T. Press. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Bell, T. (1945). The development of mathematics (2nd ed.). Mc-Graw-Hill.
Bourbaki, N. (1993). Elements of the history of mathematics. Springer-Verlag.
Burton, D. M. (2011). The history of mathematics: An introduction (7th ed). Mc-Graw-Hill.
Courant, R., & Newson, H. (1958). An introduction to the foundations and fundamental concepts
of mathematics. Rinehart.
Lewis, A. (2000). The history of mathematics from antiquity to the present. American Mathematical
Society.
Posamentier, A. S. (2003). Math wonders to inspire teachers & students. ISBN 0-87120-775-3.
Struik, D. J. (1948). A concise history of mathematics. Dover.
Chapter 3
Development of Symbolic Functions
as the Basis for Learning of Mathematics
at School: Continuation of the Dialogue
Between Piaget and Vygotsky

Claudia Ximena González-Moreno, Yolanda Rosas-Rivera,

and Yulia Solovieva

Abstract This chapter compares the approaches of Vygotsky and Piaget in relation
to the development of the symbolic function for learning mathematics. In the histor-
ical–cultural approach proposed by Vygotsky, the topic of acquisition of symbolic
means is one of the central aspects of development in infancy. The use of symbolic
means should become reflexive at the end of preschool age, as one of the indica-
tors of readiness for school. The chapter considers the concept of orientation and
gradual formation of symbolic functions on different levels as the principal differ-
ences between these approaches. The chapter analyzes the levels of formation of
symbolic function as the level materialized actions, perceptive actions, and verbal
actions with external mediatization and with the orientation of the adult. The analysis
is provided on the basis of consideration of the practice of formation of symbolic func-
tion in the reality of child’s development. The chapter concludes that for Vygotsky’s
followers, this concept became the key position for the whole development, including
mathematical thinking.

C. X. González-Moreno (B)
Pontifica University Javeriana, Bogota, Colombia
e-mail: clauxigo@hotmail.com
Y. Rosas-Rivera
National Pedagogical University, Mexico City, Mexico
Y. Solovieva
Autonomous University of Puebla and Autonomous University of Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala, Mexico

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 29

A. Veraksa and Y. Solovieva (eds.), Learning Mathematics by Cultural-Historical
Theory Implementation, Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical
Focus 7, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66894-4_3
30 C. X. González-Moreno et al.

3.1 Introduction

In the historical–cultural approach proposed by Vygotsky, the topic of acquisition

of symbolic means is one of the central aspects of development in infancy (Salmina,
2019). The symbolic function constitutes an essential element of all kinds of intellec-
tual activity, directed to solution of established concrete goals. Intellectual activity
passes through different levels of development, started from the level of mate-
rial actions, materialized actions, perceptive, and verbal oral and written actions
(Galperin, 2000; Solovieva, 2022). Both external intellectual activity and internal
thinking process occur not in direct spontaneous, but on the basis of symbolic means,
acquired in different activities during one’s practical and intellectual activity. Mental
actions can be determined as the ability to carry out a certain transformation of the
object, in the mental plan of a subject (Galperin, 1986, 2000) and, therefore, trans-
form intellectual activity into internal process of thinking. Intellectual actions always
configure the levels of development of the symbolic function.
The symbolic function implies the conscious and reflective use of various signs
and symbols (Salmina, 2019). Diverse cultural sings and symbols are used by a
subject reflexively in the actions of representation. This representation consists of
expressing the same content in different ways (Lotman, 2001). The symbolic function
implies the conscious and reflective use of various signs and symbols. Reflexive use
means that the child understands that it is about signs and symbols; that is, it is about
representation of something by means of something else. Developed representation
consists of expressing the same content in different possible ways.
It is necessary to stress that reflexive use of the symbols and signs mean that
the child understands that it is about; that the signs and symbols are substitutes
on something else and that are the other possibilities of representing something by
means of something. It is possible to suppose that symbolic function does not exist
unconsciously, that the subject who is representing something, knows that he or
she is representing. It is not possible to represent something without understanding
of the meaning of the chosen mean for representation. Symbolic function without
its conscious reflection converts in simple imitation, which is characteristic of initial
preschooler. The symbolic function allows the child to make symbolic representations
of reality that go beyond experience or direct contact with the environment.
The final period of preschool age, approximately starting from 5 years, repre-
sents the period, when the variety of symbolic means might be not only used, but
also created by the child (Gonzalez-Moreno, 2016; Luria, 2016). This ability is not
achieved spontaneously, only by having the age of 5, but is the result of specifi-
cally organized activity with proper content in appropriate conditions. Specific kinds
of activity are necessary to guarantee and enrich development and perfection of
symbolic function. In different psychological studies, it was shown that the symbolic
function makes it possible to create mental images through actions with objects
(object substitutes and drawings) and imaginative actions (Gonzalez-Moreno &
Solovieva, 2016).
3 Development of Symbolic Functions as the Basis for Learning … 31

Psychological research affirms that it is necessary to anticipate the use of the

symbolic function and guarantee the conditions in which its use is conscious and
voluntary for the child. The ideal situation is when the child themselves, along with
other children, know, use, modify and propose various symbolic media, and under-
stand their meanings. The appropriate activity to achieve this objective is, undoubt-
edly, children’s play. It is not about the play free and simple that is reduced to
the manipulation of objects, and this is a collective activity directed to a purpose
representative: thematic social role-play (Elkonin, 1989).
The content of the thematic social role-play is the activity that allows introducing
various symbolic means, from substitution to the schematization of behavior in the
game under certain rules, mutually agreed and understood (Solovieva & Quintanar,
2019). During this activity, it is possible to introduce the symbolic means as simple
substitutions of material objects and practical actions with them. Later, during orga-
nization of thematic plays with social roles and variety of different rules, it possibly
raises their level of complexity, from the materialized and perceptual level to the
verbal level in oral speech (Gonzalez-Moreno & Solovieva, 2016). It is also possible
to increase the initiative of its use in older preschool children during collective activ-
ities, for the development of imagination, as another essential neoformation of the
preschool age. Specific organization of the creation, reflection, and continuous use
of diversity of symbolic means in narrative plays may be useful for this purpose
(Gonzalez-Moreno, 2021).
Representatives of activity theory applied to ontogenetic development have shown
that the level of development of the symbolic function forms an important indicator
of the child’s psychological preparation for school (Salmina, 2019). Such indicator
might be evaluated during the period of the transition from preschool to school age.
The objective of this chapter is to show the relevance of symbolic function and its
step-by-step formation in orientated collective activities.

3.2 Symbolic Functions and Mathematics as Cultural

Intellectual Actions

Symbolic function is essential element of initial preparation of the child for school
learning in general and, especially, for learning of mathematics as a scientific matter.
Learning mathematics makes it possible to think logically, observe, establish relation-
ships, find, and represent patterns (shapes, regularities, and structures), make assump-
tions, and see what happens (what is a number, what logical perspective one has on the
world, and reason from the assumptions) in a particular language (Antonsen, 2021).
This particular language is the language of mathematical means, which are based on
logic and symbolism. The use of mathematical language means that someone may
generalize and convert in abstractions some features of the phenomenon of the real
world, express them in symbolic manner, and realize diverse operation with them.
32 C. X. González-Moreno et al.

Such capacity in not innate but might be formed during infancy by inclusion
of the child into specific kinds of activity, which require the use of substations of
objects, actions, rules, and algorithms of communication. Acquisition of mathemat-
ical concepts of school age should be based on the previous development of symbolic
functions in preschool period (Salmina, 2019). The teaching of mathematics requires
a precise methodology for the formation of the concept of number, the decimal
number system, and the development of mathematical actions such as measurement
of different magnitudes, comparison of the magnitudes, and numerical conversion of
different magnitude measures by diversity of means (Rosas et al., 2019). All these
complex intellectual actions take place not with the objects itself, but with gener-
alized features of the objects, such as magnitude, area, and volume (Veraksa et al.,
2022). All these actions imply the use not of mechanic imitation, but of the conscious
and reflective use of various signs and symbols (Solovieva et al., 2021). Such use
of symbolic function in mathematic is not possible without gradual formation by
using various forms of representation of the relationships between objects, images,
and actions (Gonzalez-Moreno & Solovieva, 2022; Solovieva & Gonzalez-Moreno,
2017).
Learning mathematics at school age enables the intellectual development of chil-
dren by allowing them to use analytical thinking, fulfill logical operations on different
levels of intellectual actions, to improve decision-making, and to come to solu-
tions quickly and correctly. The complexity and conceptual richness involved in the
teaching of mathematics is evident. However, the current programs at the preschool
and initial primary level do not consider this complexity and are limited to a direct,
empirical, mechanic execution of certain operations, among which are undoubtedly
included those established in the works of Piaget (1975), based on the supposition
that reflection and logic will appear till the age of twelve.
The main point of discussion is: do these abilities appear spontaneously according
to the child’s age or they might be introduced and formed in children gradually,
according to the conception of step-by-step formation of the action (Galperin, 2000;
Solovieva, 2022).
Constructivism approach and cultural historical conception of development
answer differently to this question.

3.3 Piagetian Perspective of the Formation of the Symbolic

Function

According to constructivism, intellectual abilities appear spontaneously and

somehow create in children a conscious disposition to undertake actions that lead to
the solution of the problems they face every day in a coherent, orderly, and effective
way because it enhances the reasoning capacity. According to constructivism, math-
ematics is included in all daily actions, which is why success in learning mathematics
is related to success in life. For example, with mathematics savings can be managed,
3 Development of Symbolic Functions as the Basis for Learning … 33

time can be managed, and it also generates a sharp abstraction capacity to continue
learning throughout life and makes it possible to mathematically represent real world
situations. It is possible to disagree with this inclusive position, saying that children
suffer a lot in primary school, while they simply understand nothing from mechanic
operations they are asked to fulfill by the teachers. To kind of day-to-day practice
and life help them to understand mathematics and to pass from empirical counting
to abstract concepts.
According to Piaget (1975), the process of adaptation in the domain of cognition
(that is, the construction of knowledge) is a process of conceptual equilibrium that
takes place within the knowing organism, while the development of cognition implies
the expansion of a balance that leads to cognitive change.
Piaget (1959) believed that “knowledge is a higher form of adaptation” (p. 12).
Consequently, Piaget viewed cognition as an adaptive tool for the construction of
a viable conceptual structure. To build the foundation of his theory of learning and
development, Piaget used the interrelated concepts of assimilation and accommo-
dation. Assimilation is how human beings perceive and adapt to new information
(Piaget, 1975). It is the process of fitting new information into pre-existing cognitive
schemata (Piaget & Inhelder, 1973). Accommodation is the process of the individual
taking in new information from the environment and upsetting pre-existing thought
patterns to accommodate the new information (Piaget, 1975).
It is curious to remember that the symbolic function was approached by Piaget
from his theory of intellectual development. According to Piaget (1959), intellectual
development considers three lines of development: (1) operational, which corre-
sponds to development by age and characterizes qualitative changes, (2) acquisition
of specific-object knowledge, which refers to functional development, this means
the assimilation of different means of actions, obtaining more content but without
qualitative changes, and (3) acquisition of semantic knowledge.
The method of evaluation of development created by Piaget (1959) is based on
the analysis of a logical development of the child. Supposedly, such development
is spontaneous. During the testing, the child responses to the tasks for conserva-
tion, seriation, and correspondence. All these tasks require the child’s possibility for
generalization of some external properties of the objects and their representation by
symbolic means. The responses to the tasks proposed in this method allow to estab-
lish the level of development of the symbolic function that has already been reached
by the child but does not allow us to understand how this level has been reached.
Piaget considered the interview necessary to identify the mental processes through
which the child constructs knowledge, as well as to relate it to the repercussions in
the classroom (Kato & Kamii, 2001).
Piaget made contributions to the understanding of children’s thinking and their
genetic development. For him, the logical sense of the world that surrounds the
child arises only up to the stage of formal operations, that is, at the age of 12–
13 years. According to his position, the development of a child’s logical thinking
is a spontaneous process, of natural maturation that only requires waiting for this
moment to arrive.
34 C. X. González-Moreno et al.

Faced with this situation, the question that arises is how can mathematics be taught
in primary school if the child does not yet have the logical component? If there is no
logic, how is the child going to acquire mathematical knowledge?
The answer is that the only option of the child is to act automatically, to imitate, to
repeat, and to memorize. Or, if the pupil of active school, the child just manipulates
with toys, objects, and textures without having any idea of what he or she is doing.
These lessons are called math lesson. This is what primary school does, covering the
impossibility to propose new innovative method for teaching and development by
the dogma of constructivist approach.
Fortunately, the constructivism is not unique conception of development of
knowledge, base of the use of external and internal symbolic means.

3.4 Vygotskyan Perspective of the Formation

of the Symbolic Function

The development of symbolic function is an essential line of cultural development

of the child. This development in not spontaneous, but depends on the content of the
actions, which the child fulfills in different period of ontogenetic development. The
content of the child’s actions depends on external practical, emotional, and verbal
orientation provided by the adults, who take part in the child’s actions. The devel-
opment of the symbolic function requires the formation of mental representations of
the characteristics of objects and problem situations. At first, the child is required to
carry out practical actions with the objects. Then the child performs mental actions.
Both practical actions and intellectual (mental) actions are determined by the corre-
lation between the objects on which they are performed, between their properties
and relationships (Rubinstein, 1964).
The symbolic function has the following characteristics: (1) identification of two
plans (what is determined and what determines), (2) the ability to analyze the plan of
signs, and (3) the ability to operate with the means of signs and symbols (Salmina,
2019). Symbolic functions do not exist as an abstraction but should be used in specific
symbolic actions. These actions might be fulfilled on different plans of development.
Firstly, symbolic actions might be fulfilled as external actions with objects (mate-
rialized substitutions), images (perceptive substitutions), and words (verbal substi-
tutions). Later, symbolic actions can be interiorized and can take place as internal
actions with internal images, internal words, and concepts.
Figure 3.1 shows as example of symbolic elaboration of the map of the “theater”
with representation of rows and seats, marked with colors and number. The plan was
elaborated by the pupil of the second grad of primary school, of the age of 7 years
old. During the play, there are different actions. Some children buy tickets and sit
in the corresponding seats. They identify their place by considering the number of
rows and seats. Then they watch and enjoy the play.
3 Development of Symbolic Functions as the Basis for Learning … 35

Fig. 3.1 Symbolic map of the “theater” (example from the notebook of the pupil Kepler School in
the city of Puebla, Mexico)

Formation of symbolic actions might be considered as the part of general line

of formation of intellectual actions by stages (Galperin, 2000; Talizina et al., 2017;
Talizina, 2019). According to this line, it is necessary to start working with the child
on the material level (real objects) or materialized (substitutions of concrete objects
by symbols). The next step is directed to work on the perceptual plan (with drawing
cards, images, and photographs). Only later, and through the constant support of the
language (active pronunciation of what the child does together with the adult), the
child acquires the possibility to act in the plan of oral or written language. Finally, the
child will be able to act on the internal mental plan (conceptual or internal language).
These stages refer to the steps of acquisition of intellectual actions with the use of
conceptual knowledge (Solovieva & Quintanar, 2020, 2022).
Table 3.1 shows the line of intellectual development using intellectual logical
actions of seriation in different plans, which might be used during the process of
teaching and learning at the end of preschool age and at the beginning of primary
school (Salmina & Filimonova, 2016). The teacher must identify the psychological
development needs of children. In this way, the teacher can choose the plan of actions
with the objects. For example, the teacher identifies that children require the use of
real or materialized objects to carry out seriation. So the teacher uses toys of different
sizes and begins the series: small, medium, and large. But if the teacher identifies
that the children require moving to a more complex level of the series, the teacher
can use materialized action with external symbols, for example, circle, square, and
triangle.
At the same time, it is possible to offer the line of gradual formation of symbolic
function in infancy. According to the line of symbolic development, it is necessary
to start working with the child on the level of materialized substitution of one object
by another (real objects and external substitutes). The next step is directed to work
36 C. X. González-Moreno et al.

Table 3.1 Plans of intellectual development

Plans of actions with the objects Examples of intellectual actions
Material action with concrete objects Seriation, based on the size of the toys
Materialized action with external symbols Seriation, based on the shape of external
geometrical figures
Perceptual action with concrete images Seriation, by drawing the flowers, based on the
colors
Perceptual action with symbolic images Seriation, by drawing geometrical figures, based
on the quantity of angles
Verbal oral or written action with no kind of Oral or written seriation of any kind of objects,
external object or image based on a chosen principle for Seriation
Source Self made

on the perceptual plan (substitution with drawing cards, images, and symbols). Only
later, and through the constant support of the language (active pronunciation of what
the child does together with the adult), the child acquires the possibility to act on
verbal plan and achieve verbal substitutions by using words, phrases, and metaphoric
expressions (symbolic verbal level). It is possible to suppose that during the period
of primary and secondary school, adequate method of teaching might allow the pupil
to arrive to the level of symbolic representation on the level of inner speech and inner
images. Adolescence, probably, is the critical period of formation of this complex
symbolic function. According to Vygotsky and his followers, this is the age of true
interest for the arts, possible start of one’s own creativity and interaction with entire
cultural society (Elkonin, 1989; Vygotsky, 1995).
These stages refer to the steps of acquisition of symbolic actions with the use of
different means actively and reflexively by the child.
Table 3.2 shows the line of symbolic development of the child with the examples of
actions of symbolic substitution on different plans of realization of an action. These
examples may help to imagine the sequence of development of symbolic function
during ontogenetic and to propose the tasks, which require the action of substitution
during the process of development, teaching, or correction.

Table 3.2 Plans of symbolic development

Plans of actions with symbols Examples of symbolic actions
Materialized symbolic substitution Table games or symbolic play
Perceptual symbolic substitution Representation of the direction of movement on maps
Verbal oral symbolic substitution Oral description of maps, schemes, and diagrams
Written symbolic substitution Use of formulas, equations, structure of number, and so on
Mental symbolic function Solution of mathematical equations, elaboration of tables
and schemes
Source Self made
3 Development of Symbolic Functions as the Basis for Learning … 37

The symbolic function prepares intellectual actions as seriation, correspondence,

and comparison, which are introduced explicitly and reflexively in the first grade
of primary school (Salmina, 2017). Without the symbolic function, such actions are
performed mechanically, repetitively, and without understanding its mathematical
meaning.
According to research carried out by Salmina (2019), it has been shown that
it is not necessary to wait until adolescent age for the child to acquire sufficient
logical elements for learning mathematics. This is how it has been shown that the
preschool-age child is capable of understanding, for example, the conservation of
quantity, volume, and area (Salmina, 2017; Sidneva et al., 2021). At the same time,
psychological research has shown that the period of preschool development should
be dedicated to profound and creative playing activity, which allows to guarantee
imagination, cognitive motivation, and broad social verbal communication of the
children (Solovieva & Quintanar, 2019).

3.5 Learning Mathematics from Piaget’s Perspective

From Piaget’s perspective, children learn mathematics from concrete numerical

concepts or the representation of quantities rather than general concepts (Piaget &
Inhelder, 1971). According to the analysis provided by Kamii (2003) and Salmina
(2017), Piaget established that the concept of number is a synthesis of the operations
of conservation, classification, and seriation. These operations allow the child to iden-
tify the order and hierarchical inclusion between objects. For the child to assimilate
the concept of number, it is necessary to differentiate the type of logical mathematical
knowledge from the social one, because adults consider that the concept of number
can be transmitted as social knowledge, which is characterized by being conven-
tional. The main form of transmission is from the count that is carried out in social
practice. However, Piaget (quoted by Kamii, 2003) establishes that the number is a
mental structure that the child builds on his own and requires a lot of time for such
construction. Also, it is established that the number is not a property of a set that
remains invariable in the external world, but the number is an idea, that is, a child’s
thought. In this way, when the child has built the idea of a number, for example,
“eight”, he can produce a variety of symbols (e.g., 00000000, IIIIIIII) or with signs
such as the spoken word “eight” or the spelling “8” and can even produce images.
A symbol is a signifier that has a figurative resemblance to the represented object
and can be invented by the child. In this way, the symbols do not need to be taught.
Signs, unlike symbols, are conventional signifiers, they bear no resemblance to the
object represented, and they are part of systems designed to communicate messages
to other people. The word “eight” and the spelling “8” are signs that require social
transmission.
According to constructivism, the social transmission or the teaching of math-
ematics consider in a simplified way the construction process that the child must
38 C. X. González-Moreno et al.

carry out (Kamii, 2003). It is frequent to observe in the books dedicated to math-
ematics, which are used in the classrooms, the predominance of exercises of sets
of images, and their relationship with quantities. Kamii (2003) points out that such
exercise is based on the idea that children progress from the concrete level of objects
to the semi-concrete level of images and from there to the abstract level of figures.
However, directing students in that sequence is a major mistake, is an empirical
conception, and reflects a lack of understanding of the difference between abstrac-
tion and representation. For Kamii, representation refers to the image. For example,
the number three is represented by the numeral 3, or it can be represented by three
apples in a drawing. Abstraction is a mental scheme as a product of mathematical
logical operations.
So far, it is possible to conclude two contributions of Piaget’s theory: first,
the concept of number is an abstraction and not a representation, and second, the
construction of said concept does not require teaching, and it requires the mental
structures that the child is achieved from relating objects (logical actions).
Piaget, Kamii et al. (2010) have worked with primary school students under the
premise that students are capable of inventing their own arithmetic without teaching.
The authors raise the importance of encouraging students to think and generate their
own ideas about how to add, subtract, multiply, or divide. In this sense, students
always start with large numbers (tens) and then work with smaller numbers (units).
Therefore, they conclude that the use of algorithms in teaching hinders students
from developing their own ideas, and they fail to learn place value. This limits the
possibilities of development of numerical meaning.
Following this line, the research by Kato and Kamii (2001) shows another example
of how to use Piaget’s theory in a Japanese school classroom. Children are asked
to solve some mathematical problems without any kind of explanations or instruc-
tions, while the teacher observes how the child reasons individually and responds
without receiving precise instructions. Subsequently, the teacher engages in a discus-
sion with all the students, each defending and exposing their procedures. Consid-
ering the investigations of Kato and Kamii (2001) and Kamii (2003), the following
premises are established for the teaching of mathematics from Piaget’s theory: (1) the
teaching of subjects must consider the three types of knowledge (physical, social, and
logical), (2) the objective of teaching is autonomy, and (3) the teacher must modify
his methodology as the student progresses.

3.6 Learning Mathematics from Vygotsky’s Perspective

According to Vygotsky (1995), the process of teaching leads to development, but not
every teaching may lead to development. Development occurs only if the process of
teaching is carried out in the zone of proximal development (learning) of the child
(Chaiklin, 2003). That means that the knowledge must be always new and attractive
for the pupil, and that the child must be able to learn in collaboration with an adult. The
word “orientation” is not used in Vygotsky’s text, but it becomes the key point of the
3 Development of Symbolic Functions as the Basis for Learning … 39

problem of teaching and learning in the works of Galperin (2000) and Talizina (2019).
Orientation is understood is the central structural component of intellectual action,
with the possibility of its external formation following by step-by-step interiorization.
For its internalization, the use of material, materialized, perceptive and verbal means
is required. These are external means that are gradually internalized with the help
of the guidance provided by the teacher. The subject may interiorize an intellectual
action and also may interiorize orientation base of this action (Solovieva, 2022).
According to activity theory applied to teaching and learning process to learn means
to fulfill different intellectual general and specific action, with the content specific to
the area of knowledge (Solovieva & Quintanar, 2022). So, in the case of teaching and
learning of mathematics, the pupils have to fulfill general logical action and specific
logical actions that is mathematical actions.
This means that guided teaching makes it possible to learn mathematical skills
(Salmina, 2019). For teaching of mathematics, the previous components are required,
such as symbolic, logical, and numeric (Salmina & Filimonova, 2016). Some publi-
cations have stressed the importance of the inclusion of the component of spatial
orientation, starting from the preschool age (Solovieva et al., 2010; Zarraga et al.,
2017). The inclusion of the concept of orientation allows to work with the introduc-
tion of specific intellectual action, with symbolic general and numeric components
in preschool age, when the leading activity if thematic social play.
Symbolic component is particularly important at the initial stage of preparation for
learning of mathematics as special area of scientific knowledge. Symbolic compo-
nent refers to the possibility of substituting one object for another, the means of
representation (gesture, object, and action), the use of signs in actions, the use of
sign systems (signs hierarchically related to each other), the symbolization of rules
of behavior, the coding, the decoding, and the elaboration of schemes. In case of
mathematics, this general level of representation is not enough. Symbolic compo-
nent has to achieve the level of codification and de-codification, for example, as
organization of one’s behavior in role and rule games. Each game has internal hier-
archical structure of rules, which might be represented by specific means (Lotman,
2001). De-codification of such means allows to accept and follow the rules of the play.
Schematization and modeling are more complex levels of the use of symbolic function
in intellectual actions and those can be used starting from primary school, specifically
for each school matter (Davidov, 2000). Preparation for the use of schematization
and modeling can take place at the end of preschool age, when the adults provide
necessary conditions for organization and evaluation of children’s intellectual activity
(Veraksa et al., 2022).
The logical component as necessary element for preparation for learning of math-
ematics refers to the identification of various characteristics in objects, to the iden-
tification of general differences and similarities, to the identification of differences
and similarities according to a given characteristic, to the need for comparison only
according to an established parameter, and to conservation tasks with diverse content
(bodies, liquids, distribution of space, area, etc.).
The spatial component is much close to logic component but has to do with the
orientation on the level of relations between the objects on material, perceptive,
40 C. X. González-Moreno et al.

and verbal level. Orientation in the real material space is previous in comparison
with the orientation in perceptual plan (level of images) which should be introduced
while working with the process of drawing in preschool age (Solovieva & Gonzalez-
Moreno, 2017; Solovieva & Quintanar, 2019). The necessity of the work with graphic
activity at preschool age might be argued as the necessity of preparation of spatial
orientation on preceptive level and as the use of perceptive level of symbolization.
Verbal level of reflection of spatial relationships is fundamental for initial mathe-
matics abilities. This level is complex and depends on reflective use of grammatical
language structures (Luria, 1975). This level allows the child to point out the relations
between the objects and processes and imagine their consequences.
At the beginning, the verbal level includes reflection of correlation of relation-
ships between external objects, images, and body parts. The relations such as: higher
than, less wide than, taller, bigger, the biggest, on the left side, between, among,
the most, the less, and so on. Further, while understanding, speaking, and playing
may achieve the use of relative, temporal, and cause/effect prepositions in the child’s
language. The tasks of feature identification as verbalization and showing various
characteristics that objects have, feature differentiation and matching as verbal deter-
mination and identification of similarities and differences in objects and phenomena,
object comparison as verbal determination of the basis, according to which objects
are compared, allow to pass to the level of intellectual actions. This means that the
use of objects and the identification of the characteristics of these objects allows the
development of thinking skills such as comparing, contrasting, classifying, commu-
nicating learning because mental representations are generated. The object seriation
and verbal determination of the whole process of the actions of seriation with basis,
according to which the seriation is made and the possibility for variation of these
parameters is one of examples of such intellectual actions. The grouping of objects
with verbal determination of the basis, according to which the grouping is carried
out and variations of these parameters is another example. The understanding of the
conservation of essential physical features of the objects with verbal determination
of the basis of conservation and of the characteristic that varies and the one that is
conserved cannot be achieved with all previous mentioned actions. Let us remember
that Piaget was specifically interested in conservation, but he never understood this
process as specifically and culturally formed intellectual action. For him, it was a
pure feature of high level of logical thinking.
During organization of the process of teaching and learning at primary school,
which is directed to student’s acquisition of mathematical concepts and actions,
the teacher is required to have knowledge of the content, structure, and necessary
characteristics of the actions that he or she intends to develop. The teacher must
know how to organize the academic content of intellectual actions in stages: material,
perceptive, external language, and internal language (Galperin, 2016a, b).
For example, during the process of formation of the concept of number, the teacher
must organize the content and the actions of the pupils, which are necessary for
complete understanding of the structure of number. Formation of the concept of
number must be introduced starting from the action of measurement. The action
of measurement contains the characteristics of the concept of number: magnitude,
3 Development of Symbolic Functions as the Basis for Learning … 41

measure, and number of times of the use of the measure. The process of development
of the action of measurement starts with the measurements of lengths, heights, width,
distance, and magnitudes in different objects and conditions. In all cases, a feature
of an object must be chosen as a magnitude to be measured together with election
of specific external mean for measuring. Finally, the means for registration of the
quantity of times for the use of the measure are also elected by children. The authors
have used diverse situations of distances, which were drawn on the floor by different
means. A piece of ribbon was chosen as a measure, and the quantity of measuring
was recorded by drawing crosses. Finally, the pupil obtained the number of 5 times
of the use of the ribbon for measuring of the whole distance on the floor (Rosas et al.,
2017).
All intellectual actions were formed in the materialized level of action (as
expressed in the previous example), later they were carried out with the schematic
drawing (on perceptive level of action), and later with the writing of numbers and
letters that represented (M = magnitude, m = measure and v = quantity of times).
The last level was the level of external verbal actions, which allowed to pass to the
use of algorithms.
This pedagogical proposal included the use of symbolic function. Latin letters
were the means for identification of quantitative data in the tasks, as well as for
identification of the mathematical relationship between the data (use of mathematical
signs: greater than >, less than <, plus + , less –, by × and between /). At the end of
the work with this kind of orientation, the students were able both to solve problems
that were proposed to them and to create their own problems considering the data
that was given to them (Rosas et al., 2017).
This means that the child’s acquisition of new mathematical knowledge is carried
out in the process of realization of actions with different objects in the constant
company and orientation of the adult. The action is that unit that is used for the
analysis of any learning process (Talizina, 2017, 2019). Galperin (2000) considers
the action as a transformation of the object directed to the objective and based on
an orientation. The child assimilates this knowledge, contributing to this process the
content of his own intellectual experience and by interacting with the newly assim-
ilated knowledge. The emergence of new knowledge makes it possible to provide a
material that constitutes the basis of the child’s mental activity (Poddiakkov, 1986).
This newly formed knowledges are continually restructured and lead to the obtaining
of next new knowledge because of highly complex forms of interaction with the newly
established mathematical formations.
In addition, extensive internal cognitive motives may be formed, which represent
an essential structural component of any type of cultural activity. This means that
learning of mathematics at school constitutes a joint activity of collective interaction
between the teacher and the collective of pupils. Internal motives are related to
cognitive needs, when students are really interested and motivated by the content of
learning mathematical concepts (Talizina, 2019).
The first mathematical concepts that must be introduced at school age are the
concept of number and number system (Salmina, 2017). These concepts cannot be
formed without the previous development of symbolic function on different levels:
42 C. X. González-Moreno et al.

materialized actions, perceptive actions, and verbal actions (Galperin, 2000). On the
one hand, symbolic functions should be used in specific intellectual actions, which
require the use of numerical material such as mathematical signs. On the other hand,
symbolic functions should be used in general intellectual actions, which refer to
logical and symbolic actions with great range of variety and flexibility. Both uses of
symbolic representation are essential for mathematics. If the concept of number is
not adequately assimilated, children will have serious difficulties for the subsequent
study of the number system and, among other problems, for the understanding of
the concept of number system itself (Talizina, 2019). For students to assimilate
mathematical concepts and actions, the teacher is required to have knowledge of
the content, the structure, and all the necessary characteristics of the actions that are
intended to be developed in students. The teacher should be aware of organizing of the
academic content in stages: material, materialized, perceptive, and verbal (Talizina,
2019).
Talizina (2019) considers that the concept of number is the first concept that the
students face to understand mathematics as science. So, it is necessary to know what
this concept consists of and even better continue to develop the understanding of this
concept. According to Talizina (2017, p. 91), the concept of number is: “the relation-
ship between what is subjected to a quantitative evaluation (such as length, weight,
and volume) and the pattern that is used to provide this evaluation”. Basic mathe-
matical skills, as specific logic and symbolic general actions, precede the systematic
acquisition of the concept of number and number systems. For example, the assimi-
lation of the skills for the creation of signs and symbols, encoding and decoding of
objects, identification of features of objects and their encoding in symbols, descrip-
tion of objects according to set of features with their representation in symbols,
comparison of objects according to their features, and identification of essential
features from nonessential ones (Talizina, 2019).
All these complex intellectual actions within mathematical tasks require the use
of different signs and symbols (figures, letters, and schemes). For this reason, the
voluntary and independent creation of symbols by children is necessary and oblig-
atory as the main basis for introduction of mathematical knowledge at school. No
kind of spontaneous process and no kind of natural experience may substitute the
process of guided and orientated activity the signs and symbols must be included in
the concrete activity for the solution of problems close to daily life and, later, for the
solution of mathematical problems.
Figure 3.2 shows an example of the tasks, fulfilled by a child from the second
grade of primary school. The task consists of measuring of the magnitude of length
of different real objects in the classroom, such as the pillow, the table, the chair,
the guitar, and so on. The child has to choose the magnitude to measure, the mean
for measuring (e.g., the pencil, the stick, and so on), and to draw the schematic
representation of number of measures, chosen for each object.
The concept of number depends on the magnitude that is measured (property of
the object), as of the standard that is chosen to measure (measure). In addition, it
is only possible to compare what has been measured with the same pattern. When
asked what is greater, 5 or 7? The boy reflects on which measure has been used
3 Development of Symbolic Functions as the Basis for Learning … 43

Fig. 3.2 Measuring task

(example from the notebook
of the pupil Kepler School in
the city of Puebla, Mexico)

M: living room cushion, m: pencil.

M: TV table, m: stick.
M: donkey, m: stick.
M: wii guitar, m: stick.

because if you only consider the number in absolute form (number line) the student
may have difficulties with more complex content (Talizina, 2017). It is necessary to
identify the measure, in the case of question, what are greater, 5 or 7? The teacher
can emphasize that they are 5 m and 7 cm, and then the student who has understood
the measurements of length will be able to answer that 5 m because it has 500 cm
while in the other set there are only 7 cm. This position principle of the numeral
system allows the student to be able to solve arithmetic operations and explain your
44 C. X. González-Moreno et al.

results. As we know, students cannot explain the conversion of measures; they only
refer “he lends her so much” “he comes over here” “that’s what the teacher said”. The
concept of number in relative form allows the understanding of the number system
and other mathematical relationships, such as division, multiplication, addition, and
subtraction (Rosas et al., 2017).
On the one hand, the teaching of mathematics from the logic of measurement
enables the teacher to form the systems of concepts and to show the mathemat-
ical actions that arise from the different relationships between the elements of the
measurement (magnitude, measure, and number of times required for the use of the
measure).
On the other hand, initial learning of mathematical operations such as addition
or subtraction should require external support from the objects and external manip-
ulations. Later, the children can start to perform the same actions of addition and
subtraction in the mind automatically (but with complete understanding of the sense
of the action). According to Galperin (2000), the first plan of intellectual action is
material external action. Finally, the idea of the action can appear which means that
the actions have passed to ideal internal level.
Regarding the topic of solution of mathematical problems in primary school, the
students must start by reflective determining of the actions he or she is going to carry
out. To do this, reflexive identification of the final question of the problem and the
conditions under which the question is established is required (Rosas et al., 2019).
Symbolic function is obviously necessary for such reflexive identification. The role
of orientation of the teacher is also essential (Burmenskaya, 2022).

3.7 Discussion

In recent studies, the teaching of problem solving in primary education was analyzed
(Rosas et al., 2017, 2019). The authors have identified the elements of the content of
the solution of the problems, such as: situation (what does the problem talk about?)
and a question of the problem (what is asked in the problem?). Such elements might
be provided to the students by the help of the orientation card. The card is firstly
used by the students together with the teacher, after which the students carry out
the actions independently. The actions, necessary for problems solution, were: (1)
identification of the final question of the problem, (2) analysis of the situation and
its relationship with the question of the problem, (3) identification of the necessary
and unnecessary data to answer the question of the problem, (4) choice of mathe-
matical actions and their verification, and finally (5) the answer to the question of
the problem. Mathematical actions can be executed at different levels, according to
the level of development of the students; that is, students can use counting sticks
(materialized actions), draw a scheme (representative perceptive actions), write the
algorithms (external verbal actions), or perform mentally (internal verbal actions).
The authors observed that the students managed to solve simple and complex prob-
lems reflectively, in addition to the fact that the students create their own problems,
3 Development of Symbolic Functions as the Basis for Learning … 45

anticipating the type of problem they will elaborate (simple, complex, and without
solution). Throughout this solution process, the students intentionally use mathemat-
ical signs; for example, they decide with which letters to represent quantitative data.
The whole research was conducted on the basis of the concept of orientation and
guided intellectual activity.
All above mentioned shows that in cultural historical creative continuation of
Vygotsky’s perspective the symbolic value of the digit must be presented by the
teacher (Salmina, 2017; Talizina, 2017); all symbolic and logical mathematical rela-
tionships of quantities are introduced for students as the content of oriented activity
(Rosas, 2019).
According to all above exposed the revision of the perspectives of Jean Piaget
and Lev S. Vygotsky is useful. Both authors agree about the importance of cognitive
development and of special role of symbolic function.
According to Piaget’s conception of intellectual development (Piaget, 1975), the
child’s own experience is fundamental to build its own knowledge of this experience.
Cognitive development will depend on the situations in which the child participates
directly, taking part in specific forms of cultural activity, organized by the adults.
According to Vygotsky (1992) and his followers (Talizina, 2019), cognitive devel-
opment requires oriented and directed specialized teaching the whole content of
programs of education in primary school must be revised (Solovieva & Quintanar,
2022). The teacher requires specific orientation in order to understand how it is
necessary to orientate the children and how to as well as that the teacher knows the
mathematical content of the work in the classroom.
The authors of the article believe that both perspectives should be studied reflex-
ively to achieve important changes in the intellectual development of students. Some
authors mind that Piaget’s theory is the most widespread in research but unfortunately,
not always it is properly used in day-to-day practice (Kamii, 2003). Vygotsky’s
perspective is difficult to assimilate and to carry out in educational organization,
because it requires the change of the teacher before changing of the pupils. Both
the teacher and the student are important actors in the teaching–learning process
of mathematics and participate in an active, creative, and transforming way. Math-
ematics learning is not spontaneous. Children do not have their own resources to
develop math skills. For the learning of mathematical skills, explicit and systematic
teaching is needed. In this way, children learn, for example, the concept of number
and establish the correspondence with the symbolic representation.

3.8 Conclusions

Mathematics abilities are not the result of some kind of spontaneous process. No child
may construct independently mathematical abilities with no kind of symbolic, logical,
and spatial actions previously formed. The teaching and learning of mathematics are
a long process, which required specialized orientation, both for teacher and for the
pupils. Both teaching and learning of mathematics is a kind of oriented cultural
46 C. X. González-Moreno et al.

activities, which means that they must be formed during the process of assimilation
of own cultural experience.
Teaching and learning of mathematics require the organization of actions that
are related to general symbolic function; this function might be introduced starting
from preschool age by the teacher. Without this orientation, it is difficult to learn the
logical component and the mathematical knowledge that the child must assimilate
at school age.
The teaching–learning process of mathematics at school age also requires guid-
ance from the teacher, directed to the achievement of generalization, independence
of execution, and reflection of own actions by the pupil. The actions should be
introduced at different levels of action (materialized, perceptual, and verbal). Addi-
tionally, awareness of mathematical concepts and the way of how to use them should
be developed during orientation in the concrete activity of solving problems, in which
mathematical knowledge is required (Talizina et al., 2017).

References

Antonsen, R. (2021). Logical methods: The art of thinking abstractly and mathematically. Springer
Nature Switzerland AG.
Burmenskaya, G. V. (2022). Orienting activity of the subject as a mechanism for instruction, learning
and development. Psychology in Russia: State of the Art, 15(4), 36–48. https://doi.org/10.11621/
pir.2022.0403
Chaiklin, S. (2003). The zone of proximal development in Vygotsky’s analysis of learning and
instruction. In A. Kozulin, B. Gindis, V. S. Ageyev, & S. M. Miller (Eds.), Vygotsky’s educational
theory in cultural context (pp. 39–64). Cambridge University Press.
Davidov, V. V. (2000). Types of generalizaiton in teaching. Russian Pedagogical Society.
Elkonin, D. B. (1989). Selected psychological works. Pedagogy.
Galperin, P. Ya. (1986). On the method of formation by stages of intellectual actions. In I. I. Iliasov, &
V. Ya. Liaudis (Eds.), Anthology of pedagogical psychology and the ages (pp. 114–118). Editorial
Pueblo y Educación.
Galperin, P. Y. (2000). Four lectures on psychology. Higher School.
Galperin, P. Ya. (2016a). On the formation of concepts and mental actions. In: L. Quintanar, & Y.
Solovieva (Org.), The formation of psychological functions during child development (pp. 80–
90). Trillas.
Galperin, P. Ya. (2016b). Types of orientation and types of formation of actions and concepts. In: L.
Quintanar, & Y. Solovieva (Org.), The psychological functions in the development of the child
(pp. 76–79). Trillas.
Gonzalez-Moreno, C. X. (2016). El juego temático de roles sociales como medio de formación
de la Función Simbólica en niños preescolares. Tesis para obtener el grado de Doctorado
Interinstitucional en Educación. Universidad Iberoamericana.
Gonzalez-Moreno, C. X., & Solovieva, Y. (2016). Characterization of the level of development of
the symbolic function in preschool children. CES Psychology, 9(2), 80–99. https://doi.org/10.
21615/cesp.9.2.6
Gonzalez-Moreno, C. X. (2021). Role play, symbolic function and development of the personality in
preschool age. Obutchenie. Didactic Magazine E Pedagogical Psychology, 5(1), 18–42. https://
doi.org/10.14393/OBv5n1.a2021-60584
3 Development of Symbolic Functions as the Basis for Learning … 47

Gonzalez-Moreno, C. X., & Solovieva, Y. (2022). Reflective and creative use of symbolic means
in play with social roles. Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology, 11(2), 31–49. https://doi.org/
10.17759/jmfp.2022110203
Luria, A. R. (1975). Introduction to neurolinguistics. Moscow State University.
Luria, A. R. (2016). The development of constructive activity in preschool child. In Y. Solovieva, &
L. Quintanar (Eds.), Anthology of the psychological development of the child in preschool age
(pp. 138–167). Trillas.
Lotman, M. Yu. (2001). Semiosfera. Arte San Petersburgo.
Kamii, C. (2003). The child reinvents arithmetic. Implications of Piaget’s theory. Machado books.
Kamii, C., & Dominick, A. (2010). The negative effects of teaching algorithms in primary grades
(1st to 4th). Pedagogy Magazine, 43(1), 59–73.
Kato, Y., & Kamii, C. (2001). Piaget’s constructivism and early childhood education in Japan.
Perspectives, 31(2), 223–237.
Piaget, J. (1959). The formation of the symbol in the kid. Economic Culture Fund.
Piaget, J. (1975). Introduction to genetic epistemology 1. Mathematical thinking. Paidos.
Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1971). The development of quantities in the child. Nova Terra.
Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1973). Memory and intelligence. Routledge y Kegan Paul.
Poddiakkov, N. N. (1986). On the question of the development of thinking in preschoolers. In I. I.
Iliasov, & V. Ya. Liaudis (Eds.), Anthology of pedagogical psychology and the ages. Editorial
Pueblo y Educación: 238–243.
Rosas, Y. (2019). Propuesta de análisis del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de las matemáticas
en la escuela primaria desde la teoría de la actividad. Tesis para obtener el grado de Doctorado
Interinstitucional en Educación. Universidad Iberoamericana.
Rosas, Y., Solovieva, Y., & Quintanar, L. (2017). The formation of the concept of number: Appli-
cation of the methodical in a Mexican institution. In N. Talizina, Y. Solovieva, & L. Quintanar
(Orgs.), Mathematics teaching from the activity theory (pp. 107–128). CEIDE.
Rosas, Y., Solovieva, Y., & Quintanar, L. (2019). Problem solving method to promote concep-
tual formation in school children. Magazine Educação Em Questão, 57(54). https://doi.org/10.
21680/1981-1802.2019v57n54ID19159
Rubinstein, S. L. (1964). The development of psychology. Principles and methods. National Editorial
of Cuba.
Salmina, N. G., & Filimonova, O. G. (2016). Problemas de aprendizaje de las matemáticas básicas
y su corrección. Ed. Instituto Universitario de Estudios Avanzados.
Salmina, N. (2017). The teaching of mathematics in primary school. In N. F. Talizina, Yu.
Solovieva, & L. Quintanar (Eds.), Mathematics teaching from activity theory (pp. 87–106).
CEIDE.
Salmina, N. (2019). Indicators of children’s readiness for school. In Y. Solovieva, & L. Quintanar
(Eds.), Anthology of the psychological development of the child in preschool age (pp. 67–74).
Trillas.
Sidneva, А, Plotnikova, V., Solovieva, Y., & Lyutsko, L. (2021). Psychological analysis of conditions
and means in formation of elementary mathematical representations in preschoolers. Bulletin
of San Petersburg University, 11(4), 389–408. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu16.2021.407
Solovieva, Y., Ortiz, G., & Quintanar, L. (2010). Formación de conceptos numéricos iniciales en
una población de niños mexicanos. Cultura y Educación, 3(22), 345–361.
Solovieva, Y., & Gonzalez-Moreno, C. X. (2017). Introducing social role-play to Colombian chil-
dren 5–6 years. In T. Bruce, P. Hakkarainen, & M. Bredikyte (Eds.), The Routledge international
handbook early childhood play (pp. 108–124). Routledge.
Solovieva, Y., & Quintanar, L. (2019). Playing activity with orientation as a method for preschool
development. Psychological Educational Studies, 11(4), 49–66. https://doi.org/10.17759/psy
edu.201911040
Solovieva, Y., & Quintanar, L. (2020). Revision of conception of gradual formation of actions for
education and psychological development. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(1887), 1–9. https://doi.
org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01887
48 C. X. González-Moreno et al.

Solovieva, Y., Rosas, Y., Quintanar, L., & Sidneva, A. (2021). Possibilities of preschool mathematics
teaching from psychology, pedagogy and neuropsychology. Notebooks/Panamerican Journal of
Neuropsychology., 15(2), 214–227.
Solovieva, Y. (2022). La actividad intelectual: Concepto, desarrollo y evaluación desde el
paradigma histórico-cultural. CONCYTEP.
Solovieva, Y., & Quintanar, L. (2022). La propuesta de modificación paradigmática de la enseñanza
primaria desde la teoría de la actividad. Educion em Análise, 7(1), 5–27. https://doi.org/10.5433/
1984-7939.2022v7n1p5
Talizina, N. (2017). The formation of mathematical concepts. In: N. Talizina, Y. Solovieva, & L.
Quintanar (Eds.), Mathematics teaching from the activity theory (pp. 107–128). CEIDE.
Talizina, N. (2019). Activity theory applied for teaching and learning. Autonomous University of
Puebla.
Talizina, N., Solovieva, Yu., & Quintanar L. (2017). Mathematics teaching from activity theory.
CEIDE.
Veraksa, A. N., Sidneva, A. N., Aslanova, M. S., & Plotnikova, V. A. (2022). Effectiveness of
different teaching resources for forming the concept of magnitude in older preschoolers with
varied levels of executive functions. Psychology in Russia: State of the Art, 4(15), 62–82. https://
doi.org/10.11621/pir.2022.0405
Vygotsky, L. S. (1992). Selected works (Vol. II). Visor.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1995). Selected works (Vol. IV). Visor.
Zarraga, S., Solovieva, Y., & Quintanar, L. (2017). Formación de las habilidades matemáticas
básicas en preescolares mayores. In: N. Talizina, Y. Solovieva, & L. Quintanar (Eds.) Enseñanza
matemáticas desde la teoría de la actividad (pp. 69–86). CEIDE.
Chapter 4
Psychological Means and Mathematical
Concepts Acquisition in Preschool Age:
Which Are Better to Use?

Aleksander Veraksa, Nikolay Veraksa, and Margarita Aslanova

Abstract The conducted research is devoted to evaluating the effectiveness of the

formation of mathematical concepts of size (length, area, and volume) in preschool
children aged 6–7 years with different levels of development of executive func-
tions. As part of the experiment, the concept of magnitude was formed using tradi-
tional, traditional with play elements, and symbolic and modelling approaches. The
approaches were based on the same actions of children (selection of objects by size
through comparison and measurement with the help of measurements), the same
methods of their implementation, only the situations in which new concepts were
introduced and worked out, and the means offered to children differed. It was found
that the development of mathematical abilities in the course of formative classes
occurs in students regardless of the approach used. This means that it is the actions
of children organized by the teacher and the methods of these actions that are of
fundamental importance in the formation of the concept of magnitude, and the situ-
ations and means of formation used play some other role, the meaning of which will
be clarified in subsequent studies. The results of the study outline ways to further
investigate the effectiveness of using traditional and non-traditional approaches in
the formation of mathematical concepts in preschoolers. Results of the study are
discussed in Vygotsky–Piaget perspectives on education and educational means in
preschool age.

A. Veraksa (B) · N. Veraksa · M. Aslanova

Faculty of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
e-mail: veraksa@yandex.ru
Federal Scientific Center for Psychological and Multidisciplinary Research, Moscow, Russia
N. Veraksa
e-mail: veraksa@yandex.ru

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 49

A. Veraksa and Y. Solovieva (eds.), Learning Mathematics by Cultural-Historical
Theory Implementation, Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical
Focus 7, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66894-4_4
50 A. Veraksa et al.

4.1 The Types of Cultural Means Used by Preschoolers

Preschool educational programs often include some basic mathematics. It is partially

related to the fact that children form their mathematical representations themselves,
as was demonstrated by the works of Jean Piaget and his followers (Fleivell, 1967).
However, it is important to emphasize the difficulties that occur while studying math-
ematics at school (Kesicioglu, 2021; Litkowski et al., 2020). It is not a coincidence
that this complex discipline is present in the curriculum throughout all school years
(Siegler et al., 2014). Social significance of mathematics for the development of
thinking and mastering other disciplines justifies the adults’ longing to facilitate
understanding this science and to begin preparing children for its further mastering
at school, in the preschool age (Stuart et al., 2013; Nguyen et al., 2016). Preschoolers
learn to perform the tasks with comprehensible mathematical content. Therefore, in
order to design adequate educational strategies for preschoolers, a study was under-
taken aimed at the search for efficient approaches to the development of mathematical
concepts in children.
However, concept acquisition cannot be analysed in isolation from consciousness
development. While in the preschool age, it is representations, memory, and imagina-
tion that become pivotal, in the school period, thinking begins to play a more integral
role. This transition is related by the mastering of the system of concepts. A concept
takes a new place and obtains a new character in the general structure of the child’s
consciousness. Children’s concepts develop along with other complex changes. The
first group of changes includes the transformation of sign formations. The second
group covers the changes in the system of sign formation within the structure of
concepts. This is when arbitrariness, awareness, mediation, and systematic structure
of concepts develop in children. Lev Vygotsky insisted that “the most significant in a
child’s development is that not only that separate functions of the child’s conscious-
ness grow and develop in the transition from one age to another, but it is also essential
that the personality of the child grows and develops, the consciousness in general
grows and develops. This growth and development of consciousness first of all mani-
fests itself in the change of relationship of separate functions” (Vygotsky, 2004, р.
84).
There is a moment of objectivity in the logic of movement of the child’s thinking
even if he/she is still on the stage of precomplex thinking. Piaget believed that a child
lives following his/her own internal logic that is gradually transformed by his/her
social environment (Piaget, 1969). Vygotsky, on the other hand, indicated that from
the very beginning, a child does not follow this internal logic. The reason for this
statement is that a sign is initially included in an objective situation by adults. This is
where all child’s emotions and impressions get concentrated. The meaning of a sign
partially coincides with the meaning an adult assigned to it which allows the child an
adequate orientation in a real situation in order to understand and be understood by
an adult. Moreover, Vygotsky emphasized that it is the adult that pre-sets the system
of developing concepts where the child’s consciousness arrives, sooner or later.
4 Psychological Means and Mathematical Concepts Acquisition … 51

Thus, a certain generally accepted approach to the development of concepts in the

childhood was established in the psychological science. This understanding is based
on the word–image relationship. It is believed that the development of concepts in
children follows the principle of generalization of different representations obtained
within the process of interaction with adults in various situations. This approach to
the definition of concepts can also be found in the works of contemporary authors. For
example, “General ideas that organize objects, events, qualities, or relations on the
basis of some similarity” (Siegler et al., 2014, p. 260). It is clear that this perspective
is very close to the traditional understanding of this matter.
The studies organized by Venger and Kholmovskaya (1978) revealed that
preschool age was sensitive to the use of visual models. A visual model is one
of the forms of sign means. Its specifics as a psychological mean include the possi-
bility of reproduction of such properties of reality in the model that allow children
further orientation in the reality itself. Thus, with the help of the model, preschool
children could find their way in the space of their group room in the kindergarten.
They solved the problem of toy-finding checking the indications of its location on the
model. The potential of visual models was explored through problem-solving related
to the preschoolers’ representations of different areas of knowledge. Schemes appli-
cation also was shown too effective for mastering mathematics (Poland & van Oers,
2007).
DeLoach (2000) underlined the dual nature of visual models that represent partic-
ular objects and at the same time are related to other objects. From our point of view,
this understanding of visual models is well-grounded. However, it is important to
take into account that the characteristics of orientation within the model, and the
orientation in the modelled real situation, often coincide. Therefore, a visual model
is not that much of a symbolic mean (bearing emotion), but rather a sign mean. The
opportunities of use of visual modelling in the process of intervention related to the
development of mathematical concepts will also be discussed.
From our perspective, we distinguish signs and symbols. The main difference
lies in the fact that a sign as a reference point of the object is initially aimed at its
meaning when used, while a symbol rather implies the analysis of its external aspects
and interpretation of its meaning. In other words, the orientation with a sign and the
orientation in reality through using the symbol as a cultural mean are fundamentally
different. We believe that the nonconcurrence of the external aspect of the symbol and
its meaning is in fact, its most important characteristic. It requires an interpretation of
symbol and complicates its direct use if compared to the sign. Besides, symbols are
used in the situations of uncertainty and possess emotional load (Mamardashvili &
Pyatigorsky, 1997; Veraksa, 2011).
Three types of tools were applied in our study for the development of educational
strategies for the purpose of introducing mathematical concepts to the preschoolers.
First, there were the traditional sign means reflecting image-related generalizations.
Then, the visual models that also belong to the sign means. Nevertheless, it is the
use of symbolic means that requires our special attention. As it was mentioned
before, symbolic means have a dual objectiveness: orientation within the symbol
and in the object represented by it are significantly different. The use of symbols
52 A. Veraksa et al.

in the preschool age can be often found in a play. Vygotsky (1966) mentioned the
duality of preschool play. It manifests itself in the dual perspective, i.e. in the ability
to see the substitute (the real object) and the substituted object (the imaginary one)
simultaneously while playing. Thus, we can suggest that this duality of symbolization
is quite comprehensible for preschool children.

4.2 Study 1. Mastering the Representations of Physical

Phenomena

To compare the use of sign and symbolic means in preschool age, we turned to
physical phenomena. The goal of our experimental study was the formation of repre-
sentations of a rainbow in children. This formation took place in two ways: the
sign-based, through explications and the use of models, and the symbolic, in the
process of play activity.
The sample consisted of 4–5-year-old children (N = 23, 14 boys and 9 girls; M
= 56.5 months) attending Moscow public preschool institutions from the district,
designed for accommodation of middle class families. In accordance with the study
goals, the participants were divided into two equivalent groups, namely the first
experimental (n = 13) and the second experimental (n = 10).

4.2.1 Procedure

The Statue NEPSY-II (Korkman et al., 2007) subscale was used for the diagnos-
tics of inhibitory control. Intellectual development was assessed by the Coloured
Progressive Matrices (Raven et al., 2009). The participants were divided into two
matched groups based on the assessment results with equal quantity of children who
demonstrated high, average, and low level of cognitive abilities.
The key difference between them lied in the means for the understanding of the
rainbow phenomenon introduced during the intervention. The first option was the
symbolization of the key relationship of the phenomenon in the process of a play
(the first experimental group), and the second, by means of schemes explaining this
relationship (the second experimental group).
The intervention consisted of three stages. The content of the first and the last
stages was identical for both groups, while the second stage was different.
On the first stage, the preschoolers were interviewed individually. They were
shown a video with a rainbow. The experimenter asked the child to tell what he/she
already knew about that phenomenon. Then, the adult played out a story with the
help of two toys that focused on the rainbow. In the end, a rainbow, indeed, appeared,
and the child was asked a question: “Why, do you think, the rainbow appeared?” In
4 Psychological Means and Mathematical Concepts Acquisition … 53

the end of the first stage, children were asked to draw this phenomenon and explain
his/her drawing. All the answers were registered.
The results of the first stage demonstrated that the majority of children, while
explaining the rainbow, only focused on the external characteristics, such as multiple
colours or its shape, or expressed their emotional attitude to it (“Wow, it’s beautiful!”).
The analysis of children’s drawings also revealed that all the participants put a lot
of effort in the correct depiction of a rainbow: the number of colours and the shape.
Normally, they did it with the help of a well-known mnemonic phrase about the
hunter (Russian analogue of ROYGBIV) or relied on their previous experience (some
children tried to remember what they saw in the video demonstrated in the beginning
of the intervention). No one focused on drawing the components of the rainbow
phenomenon such as sun, clouds, or rain. It means, children perceive the rainbow as
something separate and not related to other natural phenomena. These results form
an essential foundation and give the reason for the second stage of the experiment.
On the second stage, the content of work with the examinees depended on the
group. Both groups were formed so that to match them by the results of previous
psychological assessment as much as possible.
The preschoolers from the first experimental group were invited to play a special
game where the key relationships of the rainbow phenomenon were revealed symbol-
ically. The adult emphasized the fact that rain and sun were required for the rainbow
to appear, and before the rain, it was supposed to be clouded. The game was orga-
nized in subgroups of three. Each participant was assigned a role (cloud, drop, ray of
sun, sun, and rainbow) and was instructed to behave accordingly. Three plots were
played out (the first one ended with the emergence of a rainbow, and two others did
not). Each subgroup participated in two sessions with an average duration of 20 min.
The participants from the second experimental group were invited to individual
sessions where they were explained the essential relationships of this phenomenon by
means of a drawn scheme and modelling with construction blocks. The experimenter
explained, demonstrated, and drew the same cases where the rainbow appeared or
not.
The third stage took place 7 days after the second. The children were shown the
same video again, and then, they were asked to draw a rainbow and to answer a number
of follow-up questions about this phenomenon. All the answers were registered in
detail.
Below, you can find the examples of the drawings (Fig. 4.1).

4.2.2 Results

The analysis of the drawings revealed that almost all post-experimental drawings
depicted the conditions for a rainbow to appear (sun, rain, etc.). However, when
asked about what exactly was happening in the picture, the participants were unable
to answer.
Here are some typical explanations of the examinees:
54 A. Veraksa et al.

The second experimental group

The first experimental group

Fig. 4.1 Examples of children’s drawings on the third stage of the intervention
4 Psychological Means and Mathematical Concepts Acquisition … 55

Fig. 4.2 Round and square “umbrellas” in the process of the exploration of the concept of an area

Here, it is drizzling, then, the sun, the clouds and the grass, the sky… Why did I decide to
draw them, too? To make it more beautiful.

The rainbow is shining, the sun, and there are two clouds… It’s just the background.

This is an elephant, and something magical happened to it: he is watering from his trunk,
and a rainbow came out… The sun was surprised… And the grass, and the clouds.

From our point of view, the children’s comments indicated that the content
manifested itself non-verbally, on the image level.
On the verbal level, children were basically unable to explain their drawings. It
confirms that in preschool age, a child’s activity is closely linked to the use of a
symbolic image. It forms the foundation for this activity and for the depicting of
a complex situation on a sheet of paper. In other words, children in their drawings
reflected the structure that they intuitively (in Piaget’s terms) captured by means of
a symbol, but could not explain it due to the lack of conceptual (sign) means.
The design of this experiment was built on the strategy of activation of symbol-
ization through creating a situation of uncertainty. The process of mastering of a
phenomenon that 4–5-year-old children witnessed more than once became such
a situation. But even despite being familiar with a rainbow, its phenomenon still
remained a situation of uncertainty and cause orientation difficulties, since normally,
children do not have a cultural behavioural pattern in the face of a rainbow, nor
do they understand its physical processes. Thus, the experiment described in this
chapter was aimed at the formation of representations of the rainbow phenomenon
in preschoolers. This process followed two ways: the sign-based one, through the
explanations and the modelling of the phenomenon, and the symbol-based one, in
the process of play.
The results demonstrate the possibility of use of both sign-based and symbolic
means for the mastering of a new learning content at the age of 4–5 years. However,
what is truly important is that these means appear to be complementary: the former
allow the reflection of the content under study, while the latter transmit this content
56 A. Veraksa et al.

in a fuller way, but not reflectively. The obtained results suggest the hypothesis that
an efficient mastering of a new content requires a transition from symbolic to sign-
based means in the process of learning. It allows the reflection and retaining of the
content.

4.3 Study 2. Mastering the Mathematical Concept

of Function by Means of Signs and Symbols

Our hypothesis was validated in the process of studying the effect of symbolic and
sign-based means on the mastering of mathematical concepts by primary school chil-
dren (the concept of function as an example). The level of intellectual development
and means (sign-based and symbolic) were taken as independent variables, while the
efficiency of mastering of the concept of a function became the dependent variable.
The sample consisted of the 3rd graders. In Russian general education schools,
the concept of a function is studied in the 6th grade. However, this concept became
the foundation for our experiment after a thorough research and consulting with math
teachers. They indicated that for the 3rd graders, a function graph was a completely
new knowledge far beyond their zone of actual development. Nevertheless, at this
age, the children are already prepared enough to master it.
A three-week training program was designed. It consisted of 6 lessons, 40 min
each. The program was aimed at mastering the concept of a function and its graphical
representation.
Instead of focusing on the exact definition of a function, the main goal was to
achieve the children’s comprehension of it, i.e. the idea of a transformation of an
independent variable (an argument) into a dependent variable (a value).
Two types of experimental classed were developed. The first was built on the use
of symbolic image, and the second, on the traditional teaching methods.
In the beginning of the first lesson, both groups of students were given the same
mathematical problem: “A bicyclist is moving from point A to point B at the speed
of 10 km/h. The distance between the points is 50 km. If a bus moves at the speed
of 40 km/h, how many hours it would wait in the point A before departing, so that
it arrived to the point B together with the bicyclist?” Before the training, no student
could complete this task.
We assumed that introducing a completely new type of a problem would put
children in the situation of uncertainty when the use of already developed means is
complicated. If corresponding images with a structure similar to the concept struc-
ture, this uncertainty can launch the symbolization mechanism. It would allow the
transition from symbolic representation to the sign-based one.
4 Psychological Means and Mathematical Concepts Acquisition … 57

4.3.1 Procedure

The first three lessons held in the first experimental group were aimed at the introduc-
tion of the symbolic image (“a magic wand”) not linked directly to the mathematical
concept under study but reflecting its structural interconnections. This introduction
would promote the transfer of the main idea from its symbolic image to the math-
ematical concept itself. Our goal was to teach children to “discover” the idea of a
transformation spontaneously and then transfer it to the concept of a mathematical
function. To that end, an environment representing the transformation concept was
required, so that the child could easily manage it.
Since transformation is the foundation of the very essence of magic, an image of
a Magic Country was created for the first experimental group. There, two witches
could do magic and turn things into anything. We believed that it would be easier for
children to get emotionally involved in this story and that it would be fascinating to
them to feel like magicians and be able to transform whatever they wanted, including
themselves. With the teacher’s help, sooner or later, the students realized that if
anything could be turned into any other object, it becomes very difficult or even
impossible to say what is which. The climax of the plot of our magical story was
the first encounter of the two witches. This is when children were asked to help to
solve the identification problem, since the witches could be anyone, and even turn
into another.
We assumed that the biggest problem for children in this situation would be to
explain the criteria of differentiation of witches. A play environment was supposed
to facilitate the search for the solution and contribute to a more critical evaluation of
the ideas that may emerge in the course of discussion. Children would be answering
questions like, who were the witches? What could they do with their magic? How
could they do it? One of the suggested ideas was that the wands could differ in
their transformation capabilities. Children also gave examples of that difference: a
transformation could be of different scale, a “strong” wand could do much more than
the “weak” one. Thus, intuitively, children came up with the idea that the proportion
coefficient was the power of the wand. The next step was the transfer of a symbolic
image into the sign concept of a function. Then, children passed to the actual problem-
solving. We should note that only a half of the lessons within the experimental
program were dedicated to the solving of graphic problems.
The second experimental group that followed the traditional learning scheme was
explained the concept of a function through a system of coordinates. Seats allocated
in a movie theatre, chess, and similar arrangements were used as examples. Children
got familiarized with the concept of a function through the introduction of values.
Running and constant values were discussed (a person’s height, the ceiling height, a
distance covered, and a distance between two points). The intervals of variables and
functions were explained as well. Same as in the first group, only half of the classes
were focused on the problems where some vehicle moved that were solved by means
of linear function graphs like y = k × x.
58 A. Veraksa et al.

The sample consisted of 49 children (23 boys, 26 girls; M = 102 months) from
three different 3rd grade classes of a general education school.
Mastering of symbolic means including mathematical operation depends in major
extent on the general intellectual development. This is why the diagnostics began with
the Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (Raven et al., 2009). All the participants
were divided into three categories in accordance with the obtained score. The sample
was divided into two groups: the experimental (n = 25) and the control (n = 24)
one. Each group included children belonging to all three categories in proportion
matching their percentile frequency in the test results: high, medium, and low level.
After the last class, both groups performed a final test that consisted of five prob-
lems requiring a graphic solution. These problems were similar to the ones given
when the mathematical skills of 6th graders are assessed.

4.3.2 Results

The obtained results revealed that children with high and medium level of cognitive
skills differed in the efficiency of their mastering of the concept of function. The
participants with high level of cognitive development generally solved four problems
of six, while children with medium level solved three. The biggest difference was
registered among children with low cognitive development. In the “symbolic” group,
they were twice more successful than the students from the “traditional” group (3
problems against 2).
The goal of this study was to validate the following hypothesis: to explore the
possibility of a transition to a sign-based representation of the concept of a function
through operating with the content on a symbolic level. The intervention showed
that the transition from the symbolic representation to the sign-based one is more
efficient in children with a relatively low score in the Raven’s Coloured Progressive
Matrices (Raven et al., 2009).
This study confirmed the efficiency of the use of symbolic image for children who
experience mathematical difficulties. It means that the use of symbols in the educa-
tional practice could be profitable for children who struggle to solve the problems
by means of signs.
4 Psychological Means and Mathematical Concepts Acquisition … 59

4.4 Study 3. The Use of Image-Based and Sign-Based

Means by Preschoolers When Studying the Concept
of an Area

We found ourselves facing the challenge of comparing the efficiency of symbols (as
an adequate mean for the children with low level of cognitive development), visual
model (as a mean that preschoolers are sensitive to, according to L. Venger), and the
image-based generalizations commonly used in the learning process.
For the preschoolers in our study, we chose the concept of an area that is tradition-
ally explained in the 2nd grade of Russian general education schools. This concept is
not included in the preschool curriculum and therefore was a new content for all the
examinees. The program consisted of 7 classes organized in mini-groups of three.
This organization of the learning experiment allowed maximum involvement of all
children in the process.
According to the conventional approach based on the use of visual image-based
generalizations, children were offered different situations where the concept of an
area was introduced through measurement units. The familiarization with the new
concept began when the teacher suggested to view the area as an essential feature
of any object occupying some space on a plane. Children learned to compare the
areas of different objects superposing their images and explaining the differences
in the space they occupied. Then, the teacher passed to some common measures
represented by various geometric figures of different size. Thus, an object that took
more space on the plane (the table surface) was measured by means of big squares,
while a small object (a notepad) was measured with smaller figures. This approach
helped children in the understanding that only those objects can be compared that
were measured with the same units. Afterward, the examinees measured the same
objects using different measures which allowed establishing the dependence of the
results on the size of the unit. As an illustration to the problematic situation, the
teacher explained that people agreed to use the same metric system to be able to
understand and read the measurements. Finally, the concept of a square centimetre
was introduced and presented as a nominal criterion. The square centimetres were
also used to measure some objects, for example, small geometric figures.
In case of a symbolic image, we turned to the magical plot and witches again.
They sent a heavy rain to wipe the small people’s drawings from the asphalt. Children
were asked to help the little people to protect the drawings with umbrellas (paper
circles carved in advance). With the help of the teacher, children discovered that a
circle could not protect the entire drawing, while square umbrellas were much more
efficient. Therefore, the examinees were provided with paper squares of different
size to use for protection. However, when they tried it, some parts of the drawings
still remained uncovered. In the process of discussion, it was decided to make similar
umbrellas and use the same squares. Children “measured” several drawings to find
out how many little people with umbrellas they would have to call to save everything.
When they got the difference, children, together with the teacher, drew the conclusion
that the number of square umbrellas depended on the size of the drawing. On the
60 A. Veraksa et al.

next stage, children were asked to cover the drawing with small and big umbrellas to
help them realize that the number of “small people” to come to the rescue depended
on the size of the umbrella: the bigger it was, the fewer helpers were needed. Then,
children measured the space around with the square umbrellas that they agreed to
call square centimetres. Finally, they were shown a real square centimetre and were
asked to relate its size to the size of the square in the notebook they used to measure
the area of the figures.
The model was used to visualize the area and help children understand and master
this concept. In the group that learned through visual modelling, children were intro-
duced the concept of a scale in the first class of the program. They “built” a house
on several square sheets to see that the size of the house depended on the size of the
squares. Then, increasing and reducing the size of the “blocks” children changed the
size of their building. On the next stage, children worked with a model of the room
where the class was taking place. Small blocks represented the furniture, and below,
the examinees could find an instruction indicating where to look for a star. Having
found it on the maquette, children were to find it in the real room. Then, the concept
of area was introduced as the number of squares occupied by the object. Children
were offered different real objects (notebooks, pads, and erasers), so that their area
could be measured. The silhouette of an object was drawn out with a pencil which
allowed counting the squares that would cover it. Eventually, the concept of a square
centimetre was presented. Afterward, children were asked to calculate the area of
an object in square centimetres based on the number of squares the object occupied
in the notebook. Before, the squares were measured with a ruler, so it was already
known that it equalled 1 cm2 . However, at this moment children were also explained
that one square could be both 1 cm2 , and 1 m2 , depending on the scale. Moreover, the
examinees were asked to solve some engineering problems. For example, to build
a hangar for a plane of a certain size or to decide if a boat and a car drawn on a
gridded sheet of paper would fit into their garages drawn on a gridded paper with
bigger squares.

4.4.1 Procedure

The sample consisted of 100 6–7-year-old children from Moscow kindergartens (M

= 6.5 years, 43% boys, and 57% girls).
Cognitive skills were assessed with NEPSY-II (Korkman et al., 2007) scales
for visual memory (Memory for Designs), auditive memory (Sentence Repeti-
tion), switching, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility (Naming and Inhibition;
Dimensional Change Card Sort (Zelazo, 2006). Children with low, medium, and high
cognitive level were evenly distributed among the experimental groups.
Before the experiment, all the examinees were tested individually to find out
if they understood the concept of an area. The children were given 9 tasks. Each
contained a picture with two lines of connected figures to be compared. These tasks
were designed specially for this study. In 8 of 9 tasks, the figures were different in
4 Psychological Means and Mathematical Concepts Acquisition … 61

Fig. 4.3 Example of pre-test task on the evaluation of areas

shape, number and/or position, but their total area was the same. Children were asked
to answer the question: “Do both cows have the same amount of grass to paste on,
or does one have more?” All the responses and comments if there were any were
registered in a special form. We assumed that a child with a well-developed concept
of an area would be able to see that the grass area was equal in each picture (Fig. 4.3).
One week after the above-described classes, post-test was held. In the first part
of it, children were given the same nine tasks they solved before the experiment.
It allowed the assessment of the development of the children’ representations of an
area. Afterward, four more tasks were offered, aimed both at the assessment of the
understanding of an area and the achievements in the zone of proximal development.
To this end, children were to solve problems with 3D objects, where not only the
area of the objects was to be taken into account, but their volume as well (Fig. 4.4).
Taking into account that before the test, the groups were comparable by their
performance in the tasks, we could evaluate the efficiency of the training programs
for children with different level of cognitive development.

4.4.2 Results

The experiment revealed that the children with high level of cognitive development
were more successful than their peers with medium and low level when they studied
the concept of an area through modelling (Table 4.1). Children with low level of
cognitive development it was symbolic means that worked the best. Interestingly,
that in the “symbolic” experimental group, these children in fact demonstrated the
most noticeable progress.
Our results show that children with low cognitive abilities can in fact demonstrate
the biggest increase in their knowledge while studying mathematical concepts in
62 A. Veraksa et al.

Fig. 4.4 Example of the additional post-test task for the assessment of the development of the
concept of an area. The question is, which swimming-pool has a bigger capacity?

Table 4.1 Mean post-test values of children with different level of executive functions development
Approach Total post-test score M ± SD
High level of EF development Traditional 7 ± 1.93
Symbolic 7.4 ± 3.36
Modelling 7.46 ± 3.43
Medium level of EF development Traditional 7.2 ± 2.66
Symbolic 6.08 ± 2.99
Modelling 6 ± 3.81
Low level of EF development Traditional 6 ± 3.64
Symbolic 6.11 ± 3.26
Modelling 4.2 ± 3.271
Note The maximum score for each level of EF development on every stage of final test is marked
in italics

groups (e.g. the concept of an area) through symbolic means, i.e. when the concepts
are introduced in an emotionally structured narrative. And vice versa, in a traditional
framework, their mathematical skills develop much slower.
4 Psychological Means and Mathematical Concepts Acquisition … 63

This outcome is relatable to the data obtained in the previous study and supports
the idea of use of symbolic means in the mastering of mathematical concepts. This
conclusion can be explained by a natural use of symbols in play which once again
emphasizes its value for the educational process. The appearance of “play-based
learning” confirms that the apologists of this concept intuitively understand the
importance of the unity of cognitive and emotional aspects of play which allows
it becoming an educational technology.

4.5 General Discussion and Conclusions

The results of the studies demonstrate the efficiency of symbolic means in the
mastering of representations of physical phenomena and mathematical concepts, if
compared with sign-based means. To a great extent, the possibility of use of symbolic
means in preschool age is related to the principle of dual coding intrinsic for play
activity. There, the child has to retain two realities, the imaginary situation and the
visible plane (Lillard, 1993).
Here, it is important to emphasize the specifics of play activity. As Leontyev
(2000) indicated, play is a modelling activity in the first place. The child tries to
reproduce the situations that cannot be experienced in real life, or it is complicated
(e.g. horse-riding). Acting with a stick, the child seeks to understand this exciting
situation as if he/she was indeed riding a horse.
In other words, in respect to the use of symbolic means in the logic of dual coding,
we should indicate that their emergence in play is possible because of the specifics
of the very play situation. It is built on the need of the child to understand some real-
life situations of the adult world. The uncertainty of the explored situation and the
opportunity to fulfil that need, even if on an imaginary level, create the emotions that
drive that permeate play activity. Later, the works of Diachenko (2011) demonstrated
that play activity is of symbolic nature in the sense that it engenders an imaginary
situation where real objects obtain new play-related meanings.
All this allows the application of the following technology when teaching
mathematical concepts to children. First, a symbolic (imaginary) space should be
constructed with its characters and their attributes that help to create situations with
different symbolic contexts. It is important to find such symbolic context that would
as close to the objective meaning of the real concept as possible. For example, in our
study, in case of the mathematical concept of a function, the magic wands of two
witches had different power to increase the objects. That power allowed children
the transition from the fairy-tale context to the mathematical. Because of the fusion
of symbolic and sign-based contexts, a magic wand could be transformed into a
mathematical object. The children understood the concept of a function due to their
dual vision of the situation (the unity of image-based and sign-based representation).
Of course, it is clear that only the first step was made, since, as Vygotsky put it, a
complete mastering would require the deployment of the entire conceptual system
(Vygotsky, 1991).
64 A. Veraksa et al.

In the study of the understanding of an area, it was an umbrella that was trans-
formed into the concept. First, children regarded it as a simple mean of protection
against the rain, but gradually, it began to encapsulate the whole idea of protection
from water, not only for people or objects, but for some space. It allowed further
transformation into the unit of area measurement.
Thus, we could see the logic of use of symbols. Initially, it appears in its symbolic
meaning as an object of an imaginary (a symbolic) situation. Then, its function in
this situation is defined. This function is discussed with children and gets transferred
to the space of mathematical relationships. Afterward, this transformed symbolic
function helps to construct a mathematical concept. It is important to emphasize
again that in this situation, both symbolic and mathematical sign-based space are
present and acknowledged.
Our studies demonstrated that different types of means can be used to explain
mathematical concepts to children. Among them, there are traditional image-based
generalizations, visual models, and symbolic means. To us, visual models and
symbolic means are fundamentally different. In the first case, the character of the
child’s orientative activity both in the model, and in the way of its use in the modelled
reality, is generally the same to a major extent. Of course, we can discuss the double
objectiveness of a visual model, but it is very distinct from the dual objectiveness
of a symbol. In the former, the recoding is performed consistently and progressively
while the child moves from the model to the substituted reality. In case of the symbol,
the child has to retain the dual perspective considering both the symbolic content
and the content of the symbolized object. This experience of a simultaneous dual
representation is obtained by children in play activity. Thus, they master a powerful
tool of analysis of reality in the situation of uncertainty. It is the symbolic means
that allow preschoolers distinguishing the symbolized means that are adequate for
the reality on the one hand and simultaneously remain in the content of the symbol
and the newly discovered meanings, on the other.
As our results show, symbolic means have a special resource that can be of support
for children that struggle in the use of sign means when mastering a new content
brought by the situation of uncertainty. They help to master complex mathematical
concepts already at preschool age and thus promote better progress in the studies of
mathematical content at school.
In regard to the mathematical skills development, this step consists of daily real-
life concepts of a child allowing to exploring the symbolic meaning of the key
object and its transformation into a mathematical one. Symbolic and mathematical
spaces are united, and the moves within them are performed within the scope of dual
perspective.
Another important specific feature of image-based and sign-based representations
of learning content should be taken into consideration. As our studies revealed,
when primary school children have to express the content of the disciplines they
study through image-based representations, they can experience difficulties in the
transmission of the meaning of their activity. Meanwhile, the distinctive feature of
4 Psychological Means and Mathematical Concepts Acquisition … 65

sign-based representation is that it allows the reflection of its content. An image-

based representation, though, allows retaining the content of the discipline, but it is
not transmitted reflectively.

Acknowledgements This research was supported by Russian Science Foundation (Project No.
21-18-00584).

References

DeLoache, J. S. (2000). Dual representation and young children’s use of scale models. Child
Development, 2, 329–338.
Diachenko, O. (2011). On major developments in preschoolers’ imagination. International Journal
of Early Years Education, 19(1), 19–25.
Flavell, J. H. (1967). The genetic psychology of Jean Piaget. Prosveshchenie. (in Russ.).
Kesicioglu, O. S. (2021). Investigation of counting skills of pre-school children. International
Journal of Progressive Education, 17(4), 262–281.
Korkman, M., Kirk, U., & Kemp, S. L. (2007). NEPSY II. Administrative manual. San Antonio.
Leontiev, A. N. (2000). Lectures in general psychology. Smysl. (in Russ.).
Lillard, A. S. (1993). Pretend play skills and the child’s theory of mind. Child Development, 64,
348–371.
Litkowski, E. C., Duncan, R. J., Logan, J. A. R., & Purpura, D. J. (2020). When do preschoolers learn
specific mathematics skills? Mapping the development of early numeracy knowledge. Journal
of Experimental Child Psychology, 195, 104846.
Mamardashvili, M. K., & Pyatigorsky, A. M. (1997). Simvol i soznanie. Metaphisicheskie rassuzh-
deniya o soznaii, simvolike i yazike [Symbol and consciousness. Metaphysical discussion about
consciousness, symbol and language]. Shkola “Jazyki russkoj kul’tury”.
Nguyen, T., Watts, T. W., Duncan, G. J., Clements, D. H., Sarama, J. S., Wolfe, C., & Spitler,
M. E. (2016). Which preschool mathematics competencies are most predictive of fifth grade
achievement? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 36, 550–560.
Piaget, J. (1969). Izbranniye psyknhologicheskie trudy. [Collected works]. Prosveshcheniye. (in
Russ.).
Poland, M., & van Oers, B. (2007). Effects of schematising on mathematical development. European
Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 15(2), 269–293.
Raven, J., Raven, J. C., & Court, J. H. (2009). Manual for Raven’s progressive matrices. Part 2:
Standart coloured matrices. Kogito-Tsentr. (in Russ.).
Ritchie, S., & Bates, T. (2013). Enduring links from childhood mathematics and reading achievement
to adult socioeconomic status. Psychological Science, 24(7), 1301–1308.
Siegler, R., Eisenberg, N., DeLoache, J., Saffran, J., & Leaper, C. (2014). How children develop.
A Macmillan Higher Education Company.
Venger, L. A., & Kholmovskaya, V. V. (1978). The diagnostics of intellectual development in
preschool-age children. Pedagogika. (in Russ.).
Veraksa, A. N. (2011). Symbolic mediation in cognitive activity. International Journal of Early
Years Education, 19(1), 89–102.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1966). Play and its role in the child’s psychological development. Voprosy
Psikhologii, 6, 62–68. (in Russ.).
Vygotsky, L. S. (1991). In V. V. Davydov (Ed.), Educational psychology. Pedagogika. (in Russ.).
Vygotsky’s L. S. Dictionary (2004). In V. V. Davydov (Ed.), Smysl. (in Russ.).
Zelazo, P. D. (2006). The dimensional change card sort (DCCS): A method of assessing executive
function in children. Nature Protocols, 1, 297–301.
Chapter 5
The Pre-number Period of Teaching
Mathematics in Russia: A Psychological
Analysis from the CHAT Standpoint

Anastasia Sidneva and Valeria Plotnikova

Abstract The objective of this chapter is to discuss the principles developed in

the mainstream of the Cultural-Historical Activity theory (CHAT) for analyzing the
goals of the pre-number period of teaching mathematics in Russia from a psycho-
logical point of view. We have shown that the most important issues in mathematics
education concern the type of concepts proposed for assimilation in this period; the
type of students’ actions by which these concepts can be assimilated and practiced;
and kinds of means to carry out these actions which are provided. According to these
principles, it was developed an original program for teaching mathematics in the
pre-numerical period (15 experimental sessions, 15–20 min for each session, mini-
groups of 3–4 children). We started introducing children to mathematical reality by
having them master an elementary mathematical concept such as magnitude (length,
area, and volume), which can help them understand the dependence of number on
measurement. The control group did not attend any special sessions but learned
some mathematical concepts and skills as part of regular school preparation classes
conducted by their teachers. The total number of participants was 37 (18 in the exper-
imental and 19 in the control group). Before and after the sessions, each participant
was tested on their mastery of the mathematical concepts and skills. The results
demonstrated that the children who attended the experimental program showed a
significantly greater increase in post-test scores than the children from the control
group. This occurred in their mastery of the concepts of length and area and the
dependence of number on the means of measurement, and their ability to select
values and assemble “complex” sets. The results have proved the effectiveness of the
program built in accordance with the CHAT principles.

A. Sidneva (B) · V. Plotnikova

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
e-mail: asidneva@gmail.com
Federal Scientific Center for Psychological and Interdisciplinary Research, Moscow, Russia

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 67

A. Veraksa and Y. Solovieva (eds.), Learning Mathematics by Cultural-Historical
Theory Implementation, Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical
Focus 7, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66894-4_5
68 A. Sidneva and V. Plotnikova

5.1 Introduction

The educational standards of many different countries (Federal State Educational

Standard for Primary Education, Russia, 2014; Performance Indicators in Primary
School, Australia; The Common Core State Standards Initiative, U.S.A., etc.) include
a block on mathematical development and the acquisition of elementary mathemat-
ical concepts by 5–7-year-old children. The concepts include orientation in space
and time, shape, size, quantity, and magnitude. However, in most kindergarten and
school math programs, the educational content focuses on numbers and their oper-
ations (addition, subtraction, etc.) and only systematizes the child’s previous expe-
rience with magnitudes and shapes, without introducing anything new (Cheeseman
et al., 2018; Veraksa et al., 2022).
This situation may be due to the widespread view on the importance of developing
a sense of number in childhood for the further mathematical achievements. Several
studies have demonstrated that nonverbal number sense is correlated with mathemat-
ical abilities in children and adults (Jordan et al., 2022; Starr et al., 2013). But it is
essential to emphasize that the child’s initially intuitive number sense appears when
he or she interacts with real objects and, primarily, different magnitudes.
Most of the existing educational programs for starting to teach mathematics in
Russian schools (7-year-old children, first grade of primary school) include a special
period called a pre-number period. This unit precedes the study of the number
sequence and operations with them and includes the generalization and repetition of
mathematical content that the children mastered in preschool childhood. We have
not found such a special period in the educational standards and programs of other
countries, where the learning of mathematics begins with the parallel mastering of
number skills (counting, number recognition, number naming, quantity comparison),
measurement, and the basics of geometry (Heuvel-Panhuizen, 2000; MacDonald &
Murphy, 2021; Solovieva et al., 2014, 2021a, b, 2022; Wang et al., 2017).
In addition, the existing instruments for assessing the mathematical competence
of young children in other countries mainly assess numerical development, and to a
lesser extent, include tasks testing the children’s abilities in the areas of measurement,
shape, patterns, etc. (REMA by Clements et al., 2008; Numerical Abilities Test by
Beltrán-Navarro et al., 2018; Preschool Numeracy Indicators by Hojnoski et al.,
2009; Preschool Early Numeracy Scales by Purpura et al., 2015; AEPS, Gao &
Grisham-Brown, 2011). This fact emphasizes that common primary mathematical
education focuses on the numerical period.
However, the effectiveness of the subsequent assimilation of basic mathematical
concepts obviously depends on the pre-number period. The objective of this chapter
is to analyze the content and goals of that period in teaching mathematics in Russia
from the CHAT perspective, and to show how it is possible to design a program for
teaching mathematics in this period. It is worth mentioning that CHAT is widespread
not only in Russia, but also in Europe and USA (Freiman et al., 2021; Oudes-Slob
et al., 2022; van Oers, 2012). Therefore, it can be assumed that foreign programs
built on the logic of CHAT include a pre-number period of mathematical education.
5 The Pre-number Period of Teaching Mathematics in Russia … 69

5.1.1 The Content of the Pre-number Period of Teaching

Mathematics in Russia

The main content of the pre-number period in different programs lies in acquainting
the children with the characteristics of objects (color, shape, and size) and comparing
them with spatial representations (top, bottom, left, and right); with the simplest
temporal representations (earlier, later, first, and then), and with the counting of
objects (using quantitative and ordinal numerals) (see, for example, Bantova, 2017;
Arginskaya and Kormishina, 2016). Some programs during this pre-number period
concentrate on the concept of magnitude (length, area, volume, and others) and the
ability to arrange objects by magnitude (seriation) (Dorofeev et al., 2020); sets (with
the introduction of the concept of “set” and “element of set”) (Dorofeev et al., 2020;
Peterson, 2019); addition and subtraction of sets (Peterson, 2019); and the ability to
classify and group by attributes (Peterson, 2019). The duration of this period ranges
from 5 to 120 h, depending on the program.
The largest number of hours in the pre-numerical period is allocated in programs
built in accordance with the principles of CHAT, specifically, the theory of the Devel-
opmental Instruction (DI) designed by V.V. Davydov (Aleksandrova, 2011; Davydov,
2000; Davydov et al., 2011). Such a wide variation is due to the fact that different
programs have different goals for teaching mathematics in the pre-number period.
Most often, the main purpose of studying mathematics in the pre-number period
is to systematize the children’s preschool mathematical experience, including their
experience in kindergarten, since approximately the same ideas are the goal of mathe-
matical training in preschool educational institutions (Veraksa et al., 2019). But at the
same time, this period should be the basis for further study of numbers and other lines
of required mathematical education in elementary school (arithmetic operations, text
tasks, geometric shapes, and geometric quantities, etc.).

5.1.2 The Goals of the Pre-number Period According

to CHAT

From a psychological point of view, there is a fundamental difference between this

period of studying mathematics at school and the preschool stage of mastering math-
ematical concepts. Vygotsky wrote about this fundamental difference in the content
of the concepts offered in school education from preschool (Vygotsky, 2004). He
noted that most researchers distinguish school education from that in preschool by
its special organizational character: school education is organized, and preschool
education occurs spontaneously (Vygotsky, 2004). School education and preschool
education have different relationships to the process of mental development.
But, according to L.S. Vygotsky, the “properly organized education of a child
leads to a child’s mental development, [and] brings to life a number of such devel-
opment processes that would become impossible outside of learning at all,” and
70 A. Sidneva and V. Plotnikova

develops not his natural inclinations, but the “historical features of a person”
(Vygotsky, 2004, p. 345). Also, each academic subject has its own specific rela-
tionship to the course of children’s development (Ibid., p. 347). In the field of mathe-
matics, this issue was developed in detail by Davydov and his colleagues (Davydov,
2000). Davydov was fundamentally opposed to the idea that the learning process is
simply the assimilation of knowledge; this author believed that the type of knowledge
to be acquired is determinant and that it differs fin the school and preschool periods
(Davydov, 2000).
According to the previously mentioned, important questions may arise.
What kind of developmental processes are brought to life by school education,
specifically in mathematics? How should the propaedeutic stage of its assimilation
be organized? The purpose of our further analysis is to discuss the functions of
this stage from the CHAT point of view: first, the adaptation of the curriculum
for the assimilation of mathematical concepts, and second, its impact on mental
development.
A detailed analysis of preschool mathematics compared with school mathematics
was given by Davydov in the book “Types of Generalization in Teaching.“ This
author has shown that in most modern mathematics education programs, there is a
complete “continuity” with the child’s preschool experience, which is manifested in
the fact that “primary education is a natural continuation of preschool, [and] actively
uses and assimilates the knowledge of children acquired before school, in particular,
knowledge about number and counting” (Davydov, 2000, p. 40).
According to Vasily Davydov, a preschooler’s mathematical representations are
not based on the relationships between objects that are essential for this subject area.
Thus, the understanding of numbers only as a result of counting of material objects
(usually concrete objects as isolated units), which is always used in preschool practice
and often underlies the content of first-grade programs, is actually far from a scientific
understanding of numbers, which allows us to act intelligently and meaningfully in
the field of mathematics in the future. Such an understanding (called “theoretical”
by Davydov, 2000) conceives a number as the result of measuring a quantity by an
adequate measuring tool or measuring mean (such a value can be not only the number
of objects, but also length, perimeter, area, volume, etc.).
By relying on continuity with their preschool experience with each mathemat-
ical concepts, we are only introducing children to a special case of a number. This
naturally leads them to make errors (e.g., attempts to add/subtract different-quality
quantities such as the mass and number of objects, misunderstanding the meaning
of decimal and natural fractions, etc.).
Thus, the first goal of the pre-numerical period of teaching mathematics should
be the children’s assimilation of a concept essential for further meaningful study of
numbers: the concept of magnitude and measurement (the aspect of the magnitude
by which it can be measured). Among such values are length, area, volume, etc.
The second important aspect is the actions by which such concepts should be
acquired and assimilated by the students. Lev Vygotsky pointed out directly that
scientific concepts are not the result of generalizing about objects by observing
their everyday characteristics; they are set “from above” (Vygotsky, 1934). Another
5 The Pre-number Period of Teaching Mathematics in Russia … 71

important difference in the actions for the assimilation of scientific concepts has been
explained in the work of Leontiev et al. (Gal’perin & Talyzina, 1957; Zinchenko,
1961; Leont’ev, 2003): the concept of being set “from above” will be assimilated
qualitatively only if the child understands that it is necessary to use it in a certain
way, that is, if it becomes the subject of his activity (Zinchenko, 1961).
In fact, the actions the teacher provides for the introduction of these concepts
should convey to the child the need for a new concept: that is, allow him/her to see the
task which led it to arise. According to Davydov, the actions used for the introduction
of concepts should be practical but performed for educational purposes (in order to
discover a generalized way of action) (Gal’perin & Georgiev, 1960; Gal’perin &
Talyzina, 1957; Davydov, 2000). They should be based on the generalized method,
not so much for the purpose of its “application” as for the purpose of its concretization
or definition of boundaries (Vysotskaya & Rekhtman, 2012).
At the same time, such actions should “work” for the formation of (a) conscious-
ness (the ability to explain what and why I am doing), for which naming (the speech
form of action) and modeling are important; (b) generality (for which variations
of task types are important); and (c) assimilation in the mind, involving gradual
reduction and integration into other forms of activity.
The third important aspect is the type of means for carrying out these actions
which are provided. Such means should be considered psychological cultural tools
that allow one to master new types of activity (Vygotsky, 2004). Mastering the cultural
system underlying one’s own cognitive activity is an important aspect of cognitive
development (Elkonin, 1989; Karabanova, 2005; Venger, 1986).

5.1.3 Description of the Experimental Program

Studies done from the CHAT perspective have shown (Aleksandrova, 2011; Davydov,
1966; Davydov et al., 2011; Obukhova, 1972) that it is advisable to start introducing
children to mathematical reality by mastering an elementary mathematical concept
such as magnitude. Magnitude itself is usually determined using three comparative
relationships (i.e., a = b; a > b; a < b); examples of magnitudes that preschoolers
constantly confront include length, area, volume, and quantity. The concept of magni-
tude is essentially a system-forming concept that underlies the concepts of number,
function, and figure, and, accordingly, links three domains of mathematics: arith-
metic, algebra, and geometry (Davydov, 1966). According to Galperin’s theory, any
concepts new to the child should be learned as reference points for relevant actions
and reflect the conditions under which these concepts originated (Gal’perin, 1975).
Some studies have shown that from both the psychological and logical/subject-
related standpoints, the most complete and appropriate idea of magnitude is formed
when the child learns actions of comparison (establishing the correspondence or
non-correspondence of magnitudes) and measures quantities using a conditional
measuring tool (how many times the measuring instrument fits into the given magni-
tude) to establish the relationships between them (Davydov, 1966; Gal’perin &
72 A. Sidneva and V. Plotnikova

Georgiev, 1960). The use of a conditional measuring tool makes it possible, first,
to compare objects that cannot be directly placed upon each other, and second,
to concretize the relationship between magnitudes and understand how much one
magnitude is larger or smaller than another. When teaching is organized this way,
the concept of “magnitude” is mastered as a necessary reference-point for a specific
object-oriented action—the action of comparison and measurement—which allows
us to determine whether the children have understood its essential features.
In our program, the concept of magnitude was introduced and worked out through
the task of helping an imaginary character (e.g., “pour the same amount of the life-
saving water to save the queen,” “help Winnie the Pooh find his way home from
the dark forest”). This is justified by the fact that within the CHAT framework, it is
emphasized that the imagination that develops in the children’ play (Elkonin, 1989;
Vygotsky, 1966) plays a key role in the development. Recent research shows the
importance of symbolic tools included in the play for mastering initial mathematical
concepts in preschool age (Fleer, 2022; Li & Disney, 2023). Thus, in our program,
we created emotional meaningfulness for the action. The means for solving the
problem situation were also symbolic objects (e.g., a magic ball for measuring a
route; umbrellas that can protect a drawing on asphalt from rain; a magic cup). These
symbolic representations (Solovieva et al., 2013) established the problem situation,
key points of orientation, and relationships for its solution (Rosas & Solovieva,
2018, 2019; Solovieva et al., 2016), becoming reference points for mastering the
concept of magnitude. In this case, the children did not need a model of the action;
they themselves could construct the necessary action based on the symbolic image
of the situation, since the symbol as a cognitive tool facilitated perception of the
conditions for performing the task in a situation of uncertainty (Veraksa et al., 2015).
So, for example, you can set the following task for the children: “The gnomes drew
beautiful drawings with crayons on the pavement. But it seems it is starting to rain.
Let us try to protect these drawings from the rain. Which of these umbrellas can help
us?” Children are offered square or round umbrellas. Umbrellas, which allow you to
cover the entire surface of the drawings, in this case are a symbolic display of such
a quantity as area.
The contents of the original program are presented in Table 5.1.
This program is intended for Grade 1 students as an introduction to mathematics.
However, we found it necessary to evaluate its effectiveness on older preschoolers
immediately before their admission to school.
5 The Pre-number Period of Teaching Mathematics in Russia … 73

Table 5.1 Contents of the pre-number period’ program

No. of Contents Example of the tasks Solution
session
1 Length. Evil Witch hid the magic wand case Children need to measure
Introduction of the in her cave and multiplied it, so a thread of the same
indirect comparison now it is unclear where the real length as a magic wand
wizard’s case is. The wand should and take it with you to the
fit perfectly in the case. It should cave
not be shorter or longer, otherwise
it will not charge. Witch allowed to
enter the cave once. If the first time
you find the right case among its
copies, you can pick it up. But you
can enter the cave only without a
magic wand
How can we find the right case?
2 Length. Indirect Gnomes hold competitions for the It is necessary for each
comparison by longest jump. Let us determine who dwarf to attach and cut a
length. Training jumped the furthest thread of the same length
as the length of the jump
3 Length. There is a competition for the Children need to measure
Measurement using longest tunnel in the gnomes’ the length of each tunnel
a conditional village. The winner will get a with a small measure
measure delicious cake. Let us find the
longest tunnel. Note: the tunnels
are too long and winding to be
measured by one big measure, so it
is necessary to use small
conditional measure
4 Length. As a token of gratitude, the gnomes Children should
Measurement using decided to give the Prince a throne. understand that they need
a conditional And that is how they measured the to choose the
measure. Training throne with small staffs. Look, measurement of the same
which one of them did it right? size and that there are no
distances between the
measurements when
measuring
(continued)
74 A. Sidneva and V. Plotnikova

Table 5.1 (continued)

No. of Contents Example of the tasks Solution
session
5 Length. The gnomes wanted to know whose Children should
Measurement by house is higher. Here is how they understand the need to use
different measures. measured the height of the houses the same standard-length
Standard length (different conditional measures are measurement
measures used in the figure). But they could
not find out the answer and they
quarreled. Why?
The dwarves argued and quarreled
many times because each time they
got different answers. Although
they measured everything with
staffs and measured correctly. But
each gnome took his own staff. So,
these quarrels and swearing really
bothered the Prince. He wanted to
come up with something, so that no
one would quarrel over how and
what to measure. What could the
Prince come up with?
6 Square. The In a magical land, there are magical A tangram is a figure
tangram method for items. For example, clothes that consisting of smaller
the square make you invisible figures, when moving
measurement Our friend, Wizard, asks us to help which the place occupied
him make a magic cloak. But there by the tangram (its area)
is an important condition, there remains the same. The
should be as much fabric as in the children must make a
King’s mantle, and the new cloak cloak that will take up as
should occupy the same amount of much space as the King’s
space as the King’s mantle. mantle
Otherwise the magic will not work.
How can we do this?
7 Square. The Children are offered a drawing of a Using the tangram
tangram method for magic flying carpet method (cutting and
the square This magic carpet has a brother. rearranging parts of the
measurement. They occupy the same amount of figure), children must find
Training space. However, Evil Witch stole it. a magic carpet of the
And now we need to find him same area
In the picture, there are several
carpets of different shapes. One of
them is the same in area as the
reference carpet
8 Square. Funny little men drew pictures on Children can use
Measurement using the asphalt with crayons. But Evil square-shaped umbrellas
a conditional Witch sent rain. How can we (units of area) to cover the
measure protect the pictures from the rain? entire drawing
(continued)
5 The Pre-number Period of Teaching Mathematics in Russia … 75

Table 5.1 (continued)

No. of Contents Example of the tasks Solution
session
9 Square. The little men drew a few more Using area measurements,
Measurement using pictures and decided to arrange children need to measure
a conditional them from the smallest in area to the area of each figure and
measure. the largest. Let us help them find the smallest one first,
Serialization of then the larger one, etc
objects by square
10 Square. It so happened that funny little men Children should
Measurement using measured how much space the understand that it is
a conditional picture took up, while others built a important to use the same
measure. Standard tent of shields for it. But then the units of area measurement
square measures tent did not fit the picture because to measure the space
the men used different shields for occupied by the picture
measuring. (Show this situation on and the space occupied by
paper and billboards). Let us help the tent
the funny little men not to quarrel
anymore. What can we come up
with?
11 Volume. Indirect To save the Queen, you need to Children need to choose
comparison by pour as much living water into a two identical vessels
volume crystal vessel as in a golden bowel. located on different sides
But it is impossible to carry a of the river, and pour
crystal vessel and a golden bowl living water from a
across the river separating them. golden bowl into a vessel
How to get the right amount of on one side of the river,
living water and save the Queen? noting its level. And then
pour the same amount of
water into an identical
vessel on the other side
12 Volume. The stepmother ordered Cinderella Children need to use a
Measurement using to pour her and her daughters for small volume measure to
a conditional tomorrow’s breakfast such an measure how many times
measure amount of rice, oats, and millet it will fit into the original
(show a reference). But there are no volume of rice, oats, and
more dishes of the same shape. millet
How can we help Cinderella to get
the right amount of rice, oats, and
millet quickly as she wants to go to
the ball?
(continued)
76 A. Sidneva and V. Plotnikova

Table 5.1 (continued)

No. of Contents Example of the tasks Solution
session
13 Volume. The Fairy prepared magic pollen Children should
Assessment of the from flower petals, and she wants to understand that the
effectiveness of the hide the magic pollen in a pot for volume of spoons can be
volume the winter. In her cellar, she found different and the amount
measurement several pots (show). On the first pot of pollen in the pot
it says “6 spoons,” on the depends on it
second—“8 spoons.” The Fairy
knows that she has prepared exactly
8 spoons of magic pollen
But when she poured pollen into a
pot with lettering “8 spoons,” there
was extra pollen left
How could this happen?
14 Volume. Standard Each of the three gnomes poured 4 Children should
volume measures pots of living water into his jar. But understand that the
look, there is different amounts of volume of the pot that
water in their jars. Who is right? each of the dwarfs used
The gnomes could not figure it out may be different
and quarreled. Let us find out who
of them is right and help them not
to quarrel anymore
15 Comparison and
measurement of
different kinds of
magnitude

5.2 Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Experimental

Program

5.2.1 Methods

First, a diagnostic toolkit was developed for use with preschool children to assess
the quality of their understanding of elementary mathematical representations of
magnitudes and their relationships. This diagnostic technique included four types of
tasks for each magnitude: length, area, and volume:
(1) two tasks each measuring the children’s ability to compare objects; the children
were asked to select an object the same size as another one. For example, find
the rectangle with the same length as that shown in a drawing.
(2) two tasks each to measure the ability to use a measuring instrument correctly
(“who measured correctly?”): to apply it so that there is no empty space between
measurements, to use equal measuring instruments, etc.
5 The Pre-number Period of Teaching Mathematics in Russia … 77

(3) two tasks each for actual measuring of a magnitude with a conditional measuring
instrument and recording the result with labels or a number (“how many times
does the measuring instrument fit into this magnitude?”).
(4) two tasks each to measure the children’s understanding of how number depends
on the measuring instrument used (the larger the measuring instrument, the
fewer times it fits into the magnitude).
Two more assignments were included for creating sets (“what would be left over
if such and such sets were used?”). The ability to put together complete sets was not
specifically targeted in this study during the lessons, so we considered these tasks to
be within the children’s zone of proximal development (ZPD, Vygotsky, 2004). The
tasks for making sets were assessed depending on the amount of assistance provided
to the child by the tester and the correctness of the answer: the preschooler received
2 points for correctly solving the task independently, 1 point for solving the task
correctly with the help of the tester’s prompts; 0 points if the task was not solved or
was solved incorrectly even with the help of an adult.
The formation of the concepts of length and area was scored on a scale from 0 to
10 points; of volume, from 0 to 7 points; and for tasks in the ZPD, from 0 to 4. The
highest total possible score was 31 points. Diagnosis of mathematical concepts and
skills was performed individually with each child.
Second, we used the level of development of the children’s executive functions
(EF) as the criterion for dividing the sample equally into experimental and control
groups. We used the level of regulation to equalize groups, because based on the
results of numerous studies, regulatory functions in older preschool age are closely
related to mathematical skills (Bull & Scerif, 2001; Clements et al., 2016a, b). To
measure the students’ EF, we used the NEPSY-II subtests (Korkman et al., 2007) for
visual memory (“Memory for Designs”) and auditory working memory (“Sentence
Repetition”); for inhibition and switching (“Naming and Inhibition”, “Statue”); for
cognitive flexibility (“The Dimensional Change Card Sort”); and for visual-spatial
memory (“Schematization”). This allowed us to measure various components of the
preschoolers’ cognitive processes. The diagnosis of the children’s EFs was reached
based on two meetings with each child. As a supplement, nonverbal intelligence was
diagnosed using Color Progressive Matrices by Raven (Raven & Kort, 2002).
The study was comprised of several stages. First, the cognitive processes of chil-
dren were assessed using the NEPSY-II subtests along with Raven’s colored matrices.
After we evaluated their EFs, the children were divided into three subgroups by
level of cognitive development (low, medium, and high) according to the results of
cluster analysis (K-means clustering) performed in IBM SPSS Statistics 22. Before
the experimental sessions began, a pre-test of mathematical concepts and skills was
conducted using the authors’ diagnostic tools.
Next, participants from each subgroup (those with low, medium, and high EF
levels) were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups, so that the
ratio of participants in the groups was uniform. Then, 15 experimental sessions lasting
15–20 min were held in mini-groups of 3–4 children. The sessions occurred twice a
week in the first half of the day in the groups at the kindergarten. The control group
78 A. Sidneva and V. Plotnikova

did not attend any special sessions. After the sessions, a post-test of mathematical
conceptions and skills was performed, similar to the baseline diagnostics in the
experimental and control groups.

5.2.2 Participants

The sample was comprised of 37 children aged 6–7 (mean age = 6.9) attending
kindergarten preparatory groups, of whom 17 were boys (45.9%). No significant
statistical differences were found in the level of mathematical abilities for boys and
girls (Mann–Whitney U test, p > 0.05). Eighteen children attended experimental
sessions; 19 were in control group.

5.2.3 Results

In order to assess the effectiveness of the program, we performed a nonparametric

statistical analysis of the final scores of the pre- and post-tests for the experimental
and control groups. The comparison showed significant differences in the total scores
for diagnostics of mathematical ability between the results of the pre-test and post-
test. The minimum overall post-test score in the control group was − 2 points out of
the possible total of 31; this compared to a minimum score of 7.5 for the experimental
group.
The participants in the experimental program showed a significantly greater
increase in post-test scores than the children from the control group, in terms of
the formation of concepts of length and area, the dependence of the number on the
measuring method used; and the ability to select values and assemble “complex” sets
(LSD, p < 0.05). Pairwise comparison of the increase in mean values showed that
the children who participated in the experimental sessions showed a significantly
greater increase in their total scores on the post-test as compared with the control
group (LSD, p < 0.05).

5.2.4 Discussion

This research shows that the pre–number period is a key period for the further
advancement of a child’s mathematical development. From the CHAT point of view,
the main goal of this period should be to prepare for the introduction of the basic
concept for mathematics—the concept of number (Davydov, 1966; Solovieva et al.,
2013). Considering number culturally and historically, we must highlight its main
function: to display the relationship between the magnitude and the measuring tool
by which this magnitude is measured. From this point of view, it can be assumed that
5 The Pre-number Period of Teaching Mathematics in Russia … 79

the content of the number period should be familiarizing children with the concept
of magnitude and how to measure it. Introducing magnitudes and actions with them
allows us to start early algebra education, which has great relevance for mathematics
education because it provides a special opportunity to foster algebraic reasoning and
generality in our students’ thinking (Lins & Kaput, 2004).
The data obtained in the study is consistent with other studies in this field which
indicate that a measurement-based curriculum can stimulate the development of
children’s number knowledge and their sense of number (Cheeseman et al., 2018;
Freiman & Fellus, 2021; Lins & Kaput, 2004). Moreover, it showed that acuity
in understanding magnitudes correlate more significantly with overall mathemat-
ical achievements than number acuity up to the second grade (Park & Cho, 2017).
Finally, a recent meta-analysis confirmed that magnitude processing is reliably asso-
ciated with mathematical competence (counting, arithmetic, algebra, etc.) through
a person’s whole life (Schneider et al., 2017). This highlights the fundamental
importance of pre-numerical learning for mathematical development.
In addition, our results demonstrate that it is necessary both to choose the right
actions that will lead children to the assimilation of these concepts, and to choose
adequate means for this age period. The program developed by us is based on the
actions of selecting items by size through indirect comparison and the use of measure-
ments. At the same time, we used symbolic means to emotionally involve children
in the situation of the task. These symbolic means set up a problematic situation and
key guidelines and ways for its solution, which become main points for mastering the
concept of magnitude. It creates emotional meaningfulness of the action’s purpose
and facilitates the perception of the task (Treffers, 2012; Veraksa et al., 2014). This
indicates the importance of choosing educational means appropriate to age-specific
levels of development (Clements et al., 2016a, b).

5.3 Conclusion

From the point of view of CHAT, the content of mathematical education at school
should differ fundamentally from reliance on the assimilation of mathematical
concepts from preschool childhood; primarily it should stress the scientific nature of
the proposed concepts and their systemic structure. It has been shown that the pre-
numerical period of mastering mathematics can be considered a transitional period
from preschool to school mathematical education. With the correct organization of
the content of this period, the children’s actions and the methods they use for their
actions allow them to more effectively assimilate the basic concept for the subsequent
study of numbers—the concept of magnitude.

Acknowledgements This research was supported by Russian Science Foundation (Project No.
21-18-00584)
80 A. Sidneva and V. Plotnikova

References

Aleksandrova, E. I. (2011). Matematika [Mathematics]. In A. B. Vorontsov (Ed.), Sbornik

primernykh programm dlya nachal’noi obshcheobrazovatel’noi shkoly [A collection of sample
programs for an elementary comprehensive school] (pp. 290–328). Vita-Press. (In Russ.).
Arginskaya, I. I., & Kormishina, S. N. (2016). Matematika. 1–4 klassy [Mathematics 1–4 grades].
Razvivayushchee obuchenie. p. 58 (In Russ.).
Bantova, M. A. (2017). Mathematics. methodological recommendations. 1st grade. Prosveschenie,
2017 (in Russ.)
Beltrán-Navarro, B., Abreu-Mendoza, R. A., Matute, E., & Rosselli, M. (2018). Development of
early numerical abilities of Spanish-speaking Mexican preschoolers: A new assessment tool.
Applied Neuropsychology: Child, 7(2), 117–128. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622965.2016.126
6940
Bull, R., & Scerif, G. (2001). Executive functioning as a predictor of children’s mathematics ability:
Inhibition, switching, and working memory. Developmental Neuropsychology, 19(3), 273–293.
https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326942DN1903_3
Cheeseman, J., Benz, C., & Pullen, Y. (2018). Number sense: The impact of a measurement-
focused program on young children’s number learning. In I. Elia, J. Mulligan, A. Anderson,
A. Baccaglini-Frank, & C. Benz (Eds.), Contemporary research and perspectives on early
childhood mathematics education. ICME-13 Monographs. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/
978-3-319-73432-3_7
Clements, D. H., Sarama, J. H., & Liu, X. H. (2008). Development of a measure of early mathematics
achievement using the Rasch model: The research-based early maths assessment. Educational
Psychology, 28(4), 457–482. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410701777272
Clements, D. H., Sarama, J., & Germeroth, C. (2016a). Learning executive function and early
mathematics: Directions of causal relations. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 36, 79–90.
Davydov, V. V. (1966). Psikhologicheskie osobennosti dochislovogo perioda obucheniia matem-
atike [Psychological features of the pre-number period of teaching mathematics]. In D. B.
Elkonin, & V. V. Davydov (Eds.), Vozrastnye vozmozhnosti usvoeniia znani [Age-related
learning opportunities] (pp. 104–189) (In Russ.).
Davydov, V. V. (2000). Vidy obobshcheniya v obuchenii [Types of generalization in teaching].
INTOR. (In Russ.).
Davydov, V. V., Gorbov, S. F., Mikulina, G. G., & Savel’eva, O. V. (2011). Matematika [Mathe-
matics]. In A. B. Vorontsov (Ed.), Sbornik primernykh programm dlya nachal’noi obshcheobra-
zovatel’noi shkoly [A collection of sample programs for an elementary comprehensive school]
(pp. 278–289). Vita-Press. (In Russ.).
Dorofeev, G. V., & Mirakova, T. N. (2020). Matematika. Metodicheskie rekomendatsii. 1 klass
[Maths. Guidelines. 1 class] (p. 145). Prosveshchenie. (In Russ.).
Elkonin, D. B. (1989). Izbrannye psikhologicheskie trudy [Selected psychological works]. Peda-
gogika.
Fleer, M. (2022). How conceptual playworlds create different conditions for children’s develop-
ment across cultural age periods—A programmatic study overview. New Ideas in Child and
Educational Psychology, 2(1–2), 3–29. https://doi.org/10.11621/nicep.2022.0201
Freiman, V., & Fellus, O. O. (2021). Closing the gap on the map: Davydov’s contribution to
current early algebra discourse in light of the 1960s Soviet debates over word-problem solving.
Educational Studies in Mathematics, 106, 343–361. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-020-099
89-6
Gal’perin, P. Y., & Georgiev, L. S. (1960). K voprosu o formirovanii nachal’nykh matematich-
eskikh ponyatii. Soobshchenie I. Psikhologicheskii analiz sovremennoi metodiki obucheniya
nachal’nym matematicheskim ponyatiyam [On the question of the formation of initial mathe-
matical concepts. Post I. Psychological analysis of modern teaching methods of initial mathe-
matical concepts]. Doklady akademii pedagogicheskikh nauk RSFSR [Reports of the Academy
of Pedagogical Sciences of the RSFSR] (vol. 1, pp. 31–36). (In Russ.).
5 The Pre-number Period of Teaching Mathematics in Russia … 81

Gal’perin, P. Y., & Talyzina, N. F. (1957). Formirovanie nachal’nykh geometricheskikh ponyatii

na osnove organizovannogo deistviya uchashchikhsya [Formation of initial geometric concepts
based on the organized action of students]. Voprosy psikhologii [Issues of psychology], 1, 28–44.
(In Russ.).
Galperin, P. Y. (1975). Metody obucheniya i umstvennoe razvitie rebenka [Teaching methods and
mental development of the child]. MSU Publication.
Gao, X., & Grisham-Brown, J. (2011). The use of authentic assessment to report accountability
data on young children’s language, literacy and pre-math competency. International Education
Studies, 4(2), 41–53. https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v4n2p41
Clements, D. H., Sarama, J., & Germeroth, C. (2016b). Learning executive function and early
mathematics: Directions of causal relations. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 36, 79–90.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.12.009
Hojnoski, R. L., Silberglitt, B., & Floyd, R. G. (2009). Sensitivity to growth over time of the
preschool numeracy indicators with a sample of preschoolers in head start. School Psychology
Review, 38(3), 402–418.
Jordan, N. C., Devlin, B. L., & Botello, M. (2022). Core foundations of early mathematics: Refining
the number sense framework. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 46, 101181.
Karabanova, O. A. (2005). Vozrastnaia psikhologiia. Konspekt lektsii [Developmental psychology.
Lecture notes]. Airis-Press
Korkman, M., Kirk, U., & Kemp, S. L. (2007). NEPSY II. Psychological Corporation.
Leont’ev, A. N. (2003). Ovladenie uchashchimisya nauchnymi ponyatiyami kak problema peda-
gogicheskoi psikhologii [Mastering by students of scientific concepts as a problem of educa-
tional psychology]. In Leont’ev, D.A., Leont’ev, A.A. (eds.), Psikhologicheskie osnovy razvi-
tiya rebenka i obucheniya [Psychological foundations of child development and learning]
(pp. 316–352). Smysl. (In Russ.).
Li, L., & Disney, L. (2023). Young children’s mathematical problem solving and thinking in a
playworld. Mathematics Education Research journal, 35, 23–44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13
394-021-00373-y
Lins, R., & Kaput, J. (2004). The early development of algebraic reasoning: The current state of
the field. In K. Stacey, H. Chick, & M. Kendal (Eds.) The future of the teaching and learning
of algebra. The 12th ICMI Study. New ICMI Study Series (vol. 8). Springer. https://doi.org/10.
1007/1-4020-8131-6_4
MacDonald, A., & Murphy, S. (2021). Mathematics education for children under four years of age:
A systematic review of the literature. Early Years, 41(5), 522–539.
Obukhova, L. F. (1972). Etapy razvitiya detskogo myshleniya (formirovanie elementov nauchnogo
myshleniya u rebenka) [Stages of development of children’s thinking (formation of elements of
scientific thinking in a child)]. MSU Publication. (In Russ.).
Oudes-Slob, L., Dobber, M., van der Veen, C., & van Oers, B. (2022). Developmental education in
Dutch primary schools: Review of research outcomes from a CHAT-based teaching approach.
Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 32, 100596.
Park, Y., & Cho, S. (2017). Developmental changes in the relationship between magnitude acuities
and mathematical achievement in elementary school children. Educational Psychology, 37(7),
873–887. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2015.1127332
Peterson, L. G. (2019). Matematika. 1–4 klassy (sistema “Uchus’ uchit’sya” L.G. Peterson) [Maths.
Grades 1–4 (system “Learning to learn” L.G. Peterson)]. BINOM. Laboratoriya znanii (p. 224)
(In Russ.).
Purpura, D. J., Reid, E. E., Eiland, M. D., Baroody, & A.J. (2015). Using a brief preschool
early numeracy skills screener to identify young children with mathematics difficulties. School
Psychology Review, 44(1), 41–59. https://doi.org/10.17105/SPR44-1.41-59
Raven, D., & Kort, D. Z. (2002). Rukovodstvo k progressivnym matritsam Ravena i slovarnym
shkalam [Guide to Raven’s progressive matrices and vocabulary scales]. Cogito-Center.
82 A. Sidneva and V. Plotnikova

Rosas, Y., & Solovieva, Y. (2018). Organización de la enseñanza de la solución de problemas

aritméticos: trabajo con maestros de primaria. Obucheniye Revista de la didáctica y Psicología
Pedagóica, 2(3), 723–739. https://doi.org/10.14393/OBv2n3a2018-7
Rosas, Y., & Solovieva, Y. (2019). Trabajo con solución de problemas matemáticos en tercer grado
de primaria: análisis de dos escuelas privadas. Ensino em Revista, 26(2), 415–436. https://doi.
org/10.14393/ER-v26n2a2019-6
Schneider, M., Beeres, K., Coban, L., Merz, S., Susan Schmidt, S., Stricker, J., & De Smedt,
B. (2017). Associations of non-symbolic and symbolic numerical magnitude processing with
mathematical competence: A meta-analysis. Developmental Science, 20(3), e12372.
Sidneva, А. N., Plotnikova, V. А., Solovieva, Y., & Luitsco, L. N. (2021). Psihologicheskii analiz
uslovii I sredstv formirovaniya elementarnyh psihologicheskih predstavleniy y doshkol’nikov
[Psychological analysis of conditions and means of formation of elementary mathematical
representations in preschoolers]. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburzhskogo universiteta [Bulletin of St.
Petersburg University], Psychology, 11(4), 389–408.
Solovieva, Y., Rosas, R. Y., Quintanar, L., & García, M. A. (2013). Symbolic representation for
introduction of decimal system in Mexican School Children. International Education Studies,
6(10), 102–111.
Solovieva, Y., Lazaro, E., Rosas, Y., Quintanar, L., Escotto, A., & Sánchez, J. (2014). Mathe-
matics acquisition in Mexico: Research on teaching, acquisition difficulties and correction.
Psychology & Neuroscience, 7(4), 481–491.
Solovieva, Y., Rosas, Y., & Quintanar, L. (2016). Program for solving problems as method for
development of logic thinking in school children. RIPEM V. Sociedad Brasileña de Educación
Matemática, 6(2), 111–135.
Solovieva, Y., Rosas Rivera, Y., Quintanar, L., & Sidneva, A. (2021). Posibilidades de la enseñanza
preescolar de las matemáticas desde la psicología, pedagogía y neuropsicología. Panamerican
Journal of Neuropsychology, 15(2), 114–227. https://doi.org/10.7714/CNPS/15.2.217
Solovieva, Y., Baltazar Ramos, A. M., & Quintanar Rojas, L. (2021). Experience in pre-school
education in Mexico: Following L.S. Vygotsky. New Ideas in Child and Educational Psychology,
1(1), 77–95. https://doi.org/10.11621/nicep.2021.0104
Solovieva, Y., Quintanar, L., Escotto, A., Baltazar, A. M., & Sidneva, A. (2022). Analysis of math-
ematics programs at preschool age based on activity theory. Culture and Education, 34(1),
72–101. https://doi.org/10.1080/11356405.2021.2006910
Starr, A., Libertus, M. E., & Brannon, E. M. (2013). Number sense in infancy predicts mathematical
abilities in childhood. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(45), 18116–18120.
Treffers, A. (2012). Three dimensions: A model of goal and theory description in mathematics
instruction—The Wiskobas Project (Vol. 3). Springer.
Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, M. (2000). Mathematics education in the Netherlands: A guided tour.
Freudenthal Institute Cd-rom for ICME9. Utrecht University.
Van Oers, B. (2012). Developmental education: Reflections on a CHAT-research program in the
Netherlands. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 1(1), 57–65.
Venger, L. A. (1986). Razvitie poznavatel’nykh sposobnostei v protsesse doshkol’nogo vospitaniia
[Development of cognitive abilities in the process of preschool education]. Pedagogika.
Veraksa, А. N., Gorovaya, А. E., & Kisel, А. V. (2014). Vozmozhnosti ispolzovaniya znakovyh I
simvolicheskih sredstvv obychenii doshkolnikox (na primere osvoeniya fenomena radugi) [The
possibilities of using symbolic and symbolic means in teaching preschoolers (on the example of
mastering the rainbow phenomenon)] Psihologicheskaya nauka I obrazovanie [Psychological
science and education], 6(2), 19–34. https://doi.org/10.17759/psyedu.2014060202
Veraksa, A. N., Yakupova, V. A., & Martynenko, M. N. (2015). Simvolizatsiia v strukture sposob-
nostei detei doshkol’nogo i shkol’nogo vozrasta [Symbolization in the structure of abilities
of preschool and school-age children]. Kul’turno-istoricheskaia psikhologiia [Cultural and
historical psychology], 11(2), 48–56. https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2015110205
5 The Pre-number Period of Teaching Mathematics in Russia … 83

Veraksa, N. E., Komarova, T. S., & Dorofeeva, E. M. (2019). “From birth to school”. Innovative pre-
school education program. Izd. 5-e (innovatsionnoe), isp. i dop. Moscow, MOZAIKA-SINTEZ
Publ. (In Russ.)
Veraksa, A. N., Sidneva, A. N., Aslanova, M. S., & Plotnikova, V. A. (2022). Effectiveness of
different teaching resources for forming the concept of magnitude in older preschoolers with
varied levels of executive functions. Psychology in Russia: State of the Art, 15(4), 62–82. https://
doi.org/10.11621/PIR.2022.0405
Vygotsky, L. S. (1934). Myshlenie i rech’: psikhologicheskie issledovaniya [Thinking and Speaking:
Psychological Research]. Sotsekgiz, p. 324 (In Russ.).
Vygotsky, L. S. (1966). Igra i ee rolʹv psikhicheskom razvitii rebenka [The game and its role in the
mental development of the child]. Issues of Psychology, 6, 62–77.
Vygotsky, L. S. (2004). Psikhologiya razvitiya rebenka [Child development psychology] (pp. 327–
348). EKSMO (In Russ.).
Vysotskaya, E. V., & Rekhtman, I. V. (2012). Dva podkhoda k postroeniyu uchebnogo predmeta po
tret’emu tipu orientirovki i vybor «osnovnykh edinits» (na materiale khimii) [Two approaches
to the construction of a subject according to the third type of orientation and the choice of
“basic units” (based on chemistry)]. Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya [Cultural-Historical
Psychology], no. 4, pp. 42–54. (In Russ.).
Wang, L., Liu, Q., Du, X., & Liu, J. (2017). Chinese mathematics curriculum reform in the 21st
century: A review. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 13(8),
5311–5326.
Zinchenko, P. I. (1961). Neproizvol’noe zapominanie [Involuntary memorization]. Publ. Akademii
pedagogicheskikh nauku RSFSR. p. 564 (In Russ.).
Chapter 6
Teaching-Orienteering Activity:
Principles and Practices
for the Organization of Mathematics
Teaching

Elaine Sampaio Araujo

Abstract This work, developed in the ambit of an OBEDUC Project, presents peda-
gogical principles and practices that may be set up as basic properties that conduct
the organization of mathematics teaching in the early years of Elementary Education.
Defending the thesis that a certain theoretical-methodological basis guides the peda-
gogical process implies, necessarily, comprehending that the students’ performance
is attached to the kinds of teaching organization. In this perspective, we assume the
Teaching-Orienteering Activity, based on the Cultural-Historical Theory, as a general
kind of pedagogical organization. For that, we bring into discussion an activity in
which this thesis is developed.

6.1 To Start the Conversation

Throughout our journey in teaching and research, a question accompanies us: Why do
we do poorly in math? What is behind the numbers that indicate the low performance
of Brazilian students in mathematics? Can these numbers subsidize referrals for
a teaching proposal that has the participation of teachers? How does mathematics
teaching take place in schools? These are all questions that could be asked by different
segments of society: school, academia, public administration, private companies,
financial sector, third sector, media, and whoever else wants to; after all, it is legitimate
and right to talk about education. The media, for example, has the issue of (bad)
education as a permanent agenda. However, if there is so much interest, if it seems
to be a watchword in the discourses of different spheres of society, for what reasons
does Brazilian education make little progress in terms of quality, particularly (but not
only) concerning mathematics? There are many questions. In this study, we will seek

E. S. Araujo (B)
University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
e-mail: esaraujo@usp.br

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 85

A. Veraksa and Y. Solovieva (eds.), Learning Mathematics by Cultural-Historical
Theory Implementation, Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical
Focus 7, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66894-4_6
86 E. S. Araujo

to discuss them in a dimension that goes beyond the observation and presents itself
as prospective, which meant considering each one of them as research questions.
Assuming a prospective dimension in relation to issues involving mathematics
education was made possible by carrying out a research project entitled “Educação
Matemática nos Anos Iniciais do Ensino Fundamental: Princípios e Práticas da
Organização do Ensino” [Mathematics Education in the Early Years of Elemen-
tary School: Principles and Practices of Teaching Organization] (OBEDUC/PPOE),
funded by CAPES, in the scope of Programa Observatório da Educação [Education
Observatory Program].
Conducted in centers,1 the research involved four Graduate Programs, in the period
between December 2010 and June 2015, and had as its object of investigation the
organization of mathematics teaching in the early years of Elementary School.
When considering the chosen theoretical-methodological foundation, the cultural-
historical perspective, the research actions were based on two dimensions: the collec-
tive nature of knowledge production and the concept of activity as a formative unit
of the subject. This meant considering the teaching activity, from the concept of
Teaching-Orienteering Activity (Moura, 1997; Moura et al., 2010), as the premise
and product of the pedagogical activity. The formative dynamics experienced in the
collectivity, in the sense defended by Makarenko (1975, p. 101) as “um complexo de
indivíduos que têm um objetivo determinado, estão organizados e possuem organ-
ismos coletivos” [a complex of individuals who have a determined objective, are orga-
nized, and have collective organisms], demanded the division of actions by centers in
line with the research object. This work discusses actions developed in one of these
centers, namely the one linked to FFCLRP/USP.
In this text, according to what was proposed in OBEDUC/PPOE, we initially
present the object of investigation and the theoretical mode of apprehending it, which
means understanding the principles of Teaching-Orienteering Activity. Once these
principles have been discussed, we seek to demonstrate how they became practices,
conforming to the form-content dialectical unity. In order to do that, we make use
of teaching activities developed with children that, within the scope of the project,
became activities for the centers to study and an effective possibility of understanding
the thesis that a certain theoretical-methodological basis guides the pedagogical
process.

1 The centers that participated in this project were: Federal University of Goiás, under the coordina-
tion of Prof. Dr. Wellington L. Cedro; Federal University of Santa Maria, coordinated by Prof. Dr.
Anemari R. L. V. Lopes; University of São Paulo, FFCLRP, under my coordination, and University
of São Paulo, FE, under the coordination of Prof. Dr. Manoel Oriosvaldo de Moura, who is also the
general coordinator of the project.
6 Teaching-Orienteering Activity: Principles and Practices … 87

6.2 A Look Beyond the Data

When we take the results of external assessments as a starting point for the study
of teaching organization, a first look at the performance of students in the area
of mathematics raises concern. After all, they are data that reveal a difficulty for
students to understand questions considered basic mathematical knowledge, such
as problem situations in reality. This is what can be observed in the result of the
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), under the responsibility
of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), referring
to the year 2012, in which Brazil, among 44 participating countries, occupies the 38th
place. According to Relatório Nacional PISA 2012: Resultados brasileiros [PISA
2012 National Report: Brazilian results], available on the INEP website, the rate of
Brazilian students who did not reach Level 2 of proficiency—a level that the OECD
establishes as the minimum desirable—exceeds 60%. At this Level 2,
[...] os estudantes são capazes de interpretar e reconhecer situações em contextos que não
exigem mais do que inferência direta. São capazes de extrair informações relevantes de
uma única fonte e de utilizar um modo simples de representação. Os estudantes situados
neste nível conseguem empregar algoritmos, formular procedimentos ou convenções de
nível básico. São capazes de raciocinar diretamente e de fazer interpretações literais dos
resultados [students are able to interpret and recognize situations in contexts that require
no more than direct inference. They are able to extract relevant information from a single
source and use a simple representation mode. Students at this level can employ algorithms and
formulate basic-level procedures or conventions. They are able to reason directly and make
literal interpretations of results]. (Instituto Nacional de Estatística e Pesquisas Educacionais,
2014, p. 20)
Now, if the data indicate that the students’ performance is precarious, they also
indicate that something is worrying about mathematics teaching, concerning the
curricular organization, that is, a learning problem is also a teaching problem.
Although we are aware of the “vices of the products”2 inherent to external assess-
ments, particularly PISA, the results they present reveal something that we know, both
through academic research and classroom experience: we do poorly in mathematics.
This presents us with a challenge: to look at this reality considering its multiple
determinations (Marx, 2011). This means that, behind the numbers of low student
performance, we have several known determinants, such as: teachers’ working condi-
tions, initial teacher education, the commodification of teaching materials, public
policies, the conception of education, the school’s social function, the complexity
of mathematical knowledge, pedagogical practices, among others. However, such
determinants may be isolated for study. In this case, we took the determinant named
“teaching organization”, since all these issues are manifested in this unit of analysis.
Com o termo unidade queremos nos referir a um produto de análise que, ao contrário dos
elementos, conserva todas as propriedades básicas do todo, não podendo ser dividido sem

2In the area of consumer law, “vices of the products” are configured as errors from the origin. In the
case of external assessments, this metaphor can be used as inaccuracies of principles and methods.
This discussion is not the focus of this study, which may be seen in authors such as Ciavatta and
Frigotto (2003), Figueiredo (2009), and Altmann (2002), indicated in the references of this work.
88 E. S. Araujo

que as perca. A chave para a compreensão das propriedades da água são as moléculas e seu
comportamento, e não seus elementos químicos. A verdadeira unidade da análise biológica
é a célula viva, que possui as propriedades básicas do organismo vivo [By the term “unit”
we mean a product of analysis that, unlike the elements, retains all the basic properties of
the whole, not being able to be divided without losing them. The key to understanding the
properties of water is the molecules and their behavior, not its chemical elements. The real
unit of biological analysis is the living cell, which has the basic properties of the living
organism]. (Vygotsky, 1991, p. 4)

A second look at this reality implies looking at the organization of mathematics

teaching, not aiming to delimit which contents and procedures would be adequate,
nor establishing desired levels of proficiency, but to understand which pedagogical
principles and practices may be configured as basic properties that govern teaching
organization. In this sense, what we seek here, in the light of the cultural-historical
approach, when considering that the performance of students is linked to the modes
of teaching organization, is to discuss how a certain theoretical-methodological basis
guides the pedagogical process. And, here, old/new questions emerge: Who, when,
what, how, and why to teach? We could immediately answer: everyone, all the time;
mathematical knowledge as a cultural product; through teaching activities in which
the social meaning of knowledge becomes personally meaningful to the student; for
the new generations to appropriate human wealth and, in this process, for humanity
to be formed in the individual. However, such an immediate response calls for an
unfolding, in the sense of discussing it from the perspective of its genesis and develop-
ment. That is, what the response movement is. Let us start by presenting the concept
of activity, developed by the Cultural-Historical Theory.

6.3 Principles of Activity

Sem teoria não há ideia e sem ideia, não há teoria [Without theory, there is no idea and
without idea, there is no theory]. (Kopnin, 1978, p. 323)

We do poorly in mathematics. This is a fact and, as Kopnin (1978) reminds us,

in the theoretical construction, facts “are something reliable and irrefutable” (our
translation), but they occupy the inferior position in the movement of theoretical
production, which has the principles in the superior position. This understanding
seems to be inverted in the debate about teaching organization in mathematics: prin-
ciples, when not ignored, occupy a subordinate position in favor of facts, which
are presented as the “garment” of principles, as the theoretical generalization itself.
That is, the facts act in the theoretical construction as the generalization of principles,
while the movement, according to Kopnin (1978, p. 325), is in the opposite direction:
No fundo, as teorias são constituídas de generalizações dos fatos, de abstrações. O princípio
atua na teoria como essa generalização limite dos fatos, razão porque é abstrato, unilateral
por natureza. O princípio mostra o grau de generalização a que se chegou em dada teoria
[Basically, theories are made up of generalizations of facts, abstractions. The principle acts
6 Teaching-Orienteering Activity: Principles and Practices … 89

in theory as this limiting generalization of facts, which is why it is abstract, unilateral in

nature. The principle shows the degree of generalization reached in a given theory].

A problem that such an inversion may generate is that the result of a process is
mistaken for the cause. By taking the fact as a principle, the generalization is restricted
to the empirical field and, in this case, the fact “we do poorly in mathematics” is only
ratified by the performance, which, in turn, reveals that we are doing poorly. The
identity between principle and fact creates restrictions for the phenomenon to be
considered theoretically.
In this sense, when considering, as proposed by Kopnin (1978), that the purpose
of the principle is that its generalization can be transferred to the interpretation of
other phenomena, we make use of the principles of the Cultural-Historical Theory,
particularly regarding the learning and development process, to discuss teaching
organization through the Teaching-Orienteering Activity. The path we have chosen
for this is based on the path developed in the research and begins with a synthesis of
the concept of activity, in the Cultural-Historical Theory, adopting the Soviet authors
who first developed this concept.
Studies in education in Cultural-Historical Theory, in the Brazilian context, in
general, relate the concept of activity to Leontiev, attributing to him the develop-
ment of Activity Theory. In fact, particularly with the publication of the work “The
Development of Mind” in a Brazilian edition in the mid-seventies, Activity Theory
became closely linked to the name of Alexis Leontiev. However, when we consider
the context of production of Soviet psychology, especially between the 1920s and
50s, and the bibliographic production of that period, it is possible to observe an
intense collaborative work between researchers, typical of a production mode that
was intended to be socialist. Thus, although it is correct to relate Activity Theory
to Leontiev, it is interesting to understand that other researchers have also studied it
in form and content, as is the case of Rubinstein (1973) and even Vygotski;3 even
though this was not the main object for this author, the concept of activity was consid-
ered by him when studying the process of cultural psychological development of the
child.
An example of this fact can be seen when Vygotski (1995) recovers from H.
Jennings the biological concept of the animal activity system, understood as a system
conditioned by the organs and in which the modes and forms of conduct are config-
ured, to discuss that humans also have a system of activity that delimits the conduct.
However, Vygotski emphasizes that the superiority of the human system lies in the
possibility of using tools: “Su cerebro y su mano han extendido de manera infinita
su sistema de actividad, es decir, el ámbito de alcanzables y posibles formas de
conducta” [His brain and hand have infinitely extended his activity system, that is,
the range of attainable and possible forms of conduct] (Vygotski, 1995, p. 37). This
is why Vygotski, when discussing the child’s activity system from the perspective of
ontogenesis, sought to highlight the existence of organic and cultural development
processes:

3 The spelling of the name Vygotski will be considered according to the reference to which it is
linked.
90 E. S. Araujo

Toda la peculiaridad del paso de un sistema de actividad (animal) a otro (humano) que
realiza el niño, consiste en que un sistema no simplemente sustituye a otro, sino que ambos
sistemas se desarrollan conjunta y simultáneamente: hecho que no tiene similitud ni en la
historia del desarrollo de los animales, ni en la historia del desarrollo de la humanidad. El
niño no pasa al nuevo sistema después de que el viejo sistema de actividad, condicionado
orgánicamente, se haya desarrollado hasta el fin. El niño no llega a emplear las herramientas
como el hombre primitivo, cuyo desarrollo orgánico se ha completado. El niño sobrepasa
los límites del sistema de Jennings, cuando el propio sistema todavía se encuentra en su
etapa inicial de desarrollo [The whole peculiarity of the transition from one activity system
(animal) to another (human) that the child performs is in the fact that one system does not
simply replace the other, but both systems develop together and simultaneously: a fact that
has no similarity either in the history of the development of animals or in the history of the
development of humankind. The child does not move on to the new system after the old,
organically conditioned, activity system has developed to the end. The child does not use
tools like primitive man, whose organic development is complete. The child goes beyond
the limits of the Jennings system, when the system itself, however, is in its initial stage of
development]. (Vygotski, 1995, p. 38).

In this sense, we may observe that Vygotski (1995), when borrowing the activity
system theory from Jennings, did so considering the phylogenetic and ontogenetic
processes of the human being. We could say that such an understanding was vital for
the thesis about the social formation of the mind, developed by him in the study of
the emergence and functioning of higher psychological functions.
In a similar perspective, Rubinstein declares that his study on psychic processes,
[...] passou ao estudo da actividade na relação concreta com as condições da actividade
efectiva. O estudo da psicologia da actividade, que efectivamente deriva sempre da pessoa
como sujeito desta actividade, foi essencialmente um estudo da psicologia da personalidade
dentro de sua actividade, isto é, das suas motivações (estímulos), fins e tarefas [moved on to
the study of activity in concrete relation to the conditions of actual activity. The study of the
psychology of activity, which in fact always derives from the person as the subject of this
activity, was essentially a study of the psychology of personality within the activity, that is,
of its motivations (stimuli), ends, and tasks]. (Rubinstein, 1973, p. 119)

We can consider that both Vygotsky and Rubinstein, when studying the higher
psychic functions, come from a Marxist understanding of the historical formation
of consciousness, defended by Karl Marx and Engels (2011), whose expression
was marked in the work The German Ideology: “Não é a consciência que deter-
mina a vida, mas sim a vida que determina a consciência” [Life is not determined
by consciousness, but consciousness by life]. This means to consider, roughly, that
practical activity determines the mind. For Rubinstein (1965), the concept of activity
is configured as a psychological category, while work would be a sociological cate-
gory. Such distinction is important for the defense that both Rubinstein (1973) and
Leontiev (1983) make about activity as an ontological category, which constitutes
the being, whose analysis is carried out from the psychological perspective of human
development.
Leontiev (1983), when discussing the correlation between internal and external
activity, takes up Vygotski’s ideas about the social formation of the mind and
expresses that Vygotski understood the formation of higher psychological func-
tions when analyzing human practical activity, from which he formulated a question
6 Teaching-Orienteering Activity: Principles and Practices … 91

that is central to the psychological understanding of human development: “El instru-

mento mediatiza la actividad que liga al hombre no sólo con el mundo de las cosas,
sino también con otros hombres” [the instruments channel man’s activity, not only
regarding the world of objects, but also the world of people] (Leontiev, 1983, p. 78).
In this sense, the concept of activity is related to the process of human develop-
ment. In ontological development, according to the Activity Theory (Leontiev, 1983;
Rubinstein, 1965, 1973), there are three dominant activities by which an individual
is constituted as human: work and the activities of play and study that derive from it.
Each of these activities is related to the place that the subject occupies in the system
of social relations, which is why it is designated that the child’s main activity is to
play, that of the young person is to study, and that of the adult is to work.
However, the concept of activity still has a broader understanding, referring to
psychological processes, which, according to Leontiev (1978, p. 296), are: “caracter-
izados por uma meta a que o processo se dirige (seu objeto) coincidindo sempre com
o objetivo que estimula o sujeito a executar esta atividade, isto é o motivo” [charac-
terized by a goal to which the process is directed (its object) always coinciding with
the objective that stimulates the subject to perform this activity, that is, the motive].
As a structure, the activity is characterized by two interdependent dimensions:
execution and orientation. In the orientation dimension, we could consider the motive
and the object toward which it is oriented. In such a way that motive and object are
linked to a certain need. Actions and operations configure the executing dimension
of the activity, in which objectives are related to actions and conditions to operations.
In order to understand activity in its systemic relationships, it is important, initially,
to understand the primary relationships, so that we can visualize the possibilities of
movement. Assuming that, in order to constitute an activity, a coincidence between
motive and object is necessary, if the activity loses its motive, it soon ceases to be an
activity and becomes an action. However, there are cases in which the psychological
process begins as action and, in its course, a motive arises and the action turns into
activity; there is also the possibility that the action, when developed, changes to an
operation, in a procedure to achieve a certain objective. This understanding of activity
as a system, as proposed by Leontiev (1983, p. 89), is fundamental to discuss how
this concept of activity may be considered in teaching organization because we start
from the thesis that this is the unit of analysis that allows understanding the fact that
“we do poorly in mathematics”. What we defend is that the concept of activity is,
par excellence, the principle of Teaching-Orienteering Activity.

6.4 Activity Practices

In different works (Araujo, 2003; Lopes, 2009; Moraes & Moura, 2009; Moura, 1997,
2001; Moura et al., 2010) and especially the one developed in the OBEDUC/PPOE
Project, there is an understanding of the Teaching-Orienteering Activity (TOA) as a
training unit for the teacher and the student. We may understand this unit through
the point that teacher and student are in activity. The teacher is in the work activity
92 E. S. Araujo

through teaching and the student is in the study activity. Both, as activities in the
ontological dimension, must constitute the individual. That is, although teacher and
student occupy different places in the system of relationships, TOA is configured
as the human activity that mediates the relationship between these two subjects, so
that its orienteering dimension intentionally leads to development: “La enseñanza
debe orientarse no al ayer, sino al mañana del desarrollo infantil” [teaching must
be oriented not to yesterday, but to the tomorrow of child development] (Vygotski,
2001, p. 242).
But which development? Skills and abilities? According to the Cultural-historical
theory, it is about the development of human capacities that
[...] não são dons inatos do indivíduo, mas produtos diretos das apropriações e objetivações
efetivadas [...] o desenvolvimento de capacidades genuinamente humanas transcende o
sentido utilitário e pragmático do conhecimento e da ação, pois demanda, o domínio de
qualidades psíquicas amplas e estáveis, chamadas por Vygotsky de funções psicológicas
superiores [are not innate gifts of the individual, but direct products of appropriations and
objectifications carried out […] the development of genuinely human capacities transcends
the utilitarian and pragmatic sense of knowledge and action, as it demands the mastery of
broad and stable psychic qualities, called superior psychological functions by Vygotsky].
(Martins, 2006, p. 36)

And then, we enter the realm of teaching. Which teaching? The one that orients
learning and produces development. In this case, teaching in the dimension of Orien-
teering Activity has as content the teaching objects that bear the mark of the essen-
tial relationships of the objects of human activity, referring to certain knowledge.
According to Nascimento (2014, p. 271), the teaching objects synthesize the general
modes of action of the objects of human activity, which is why in the teaching object,
human work is reproduced and, through it, if possible, the human-generic formation
in each subject.
As a synthesis, we try to show the interdependence between Activity, Orientation,
and Teaching in the Fig. 6.1.
In understanding the Teaching-Orienteering Activity as a theoretical-
methodological basis for teaching organization (Mouta et al., 2010), and as a possi-
bility to understand the fact that “we do poorly in mathematics”, there are two issues
that we need to consider when we take the concept of activity as defended by Leon-
tiev (1983). When considering the concept of activity as a system, it is possible to
understand two dimensions that are interdependent. The orienteering dimension of
the activity is related to the motives directed at the object, whereas the executing
dimension of the activity is carried out through actions and operations.
Thus, for TOA, the first one, which concerns the orienteering dimension of activity,
we could, in general terms, consider that the motive for TOA is to enable the social
experience of humanity, objectified in culture, to become the experience of the
subject, in such a way that the object of TOA is historically produced theoretical
knowledge. However, what relates the motive to the object, from this perspective, is
the social need for the formation of the human personality, that is, the pedagogical
process as a formative process of the human personality. This is the need for teaching
activity and study activity.
6 Teaching-Orienteering Activity: Principles and Practices … 93

Fig. 6.1 Dimensions of the teaching-orienteering activity

The second issue to be considered relates to the executing dimension of the

Teaching-Orienteering Activity. Here, the actions and operations come into play,
so that the motive is fulfilled in the object. The actions, in general terms, are aimed
at specific objectives that, in the case of school education, are identified with the
appropriation of scientific concepts; and operations, for these actions to take place,
go through modes of action that develop theoretical thinking. According to Moura,
the Teaching-Orienteering Activity
[...] tem uma necessidade: ensinar; tem ações: define o modo ou procedimentos de como
colocar os conhecimentos em jogo no espaço educativo; e elege instrumentos auxiliares de
ensino: os recursos metodológicos adequados a cada objetivo e ação (livro, giz, computador,
ábaco, etc.). E, por fim, os processos de análise e síntese, ao longo da atividade, são momentos
de avaliação permanente para quem ensina e aprende [has a need: to teach; has actions:
defines the mode or procedures of how to put knowledge into play in the educational space;
and elects auxiliary teaching instruments: the methodological resources suitable for each
objective and action (book, chalk, computer, abacus, etc.). And, finally, the processes of
analysis and synthesis, throughout the activity, are moments of permanent evaluation for
those who teach and learn]. (Moura, 2001, p. 155)

How is the structure of the activity, in the orientation and execution dimensions,
understood in the Teaching-Orienteering Activity? Initially, it is necessary to consider
it from the perspective of teaching organization. So, we may resume the idea
previously developed regarding the motive and object of the Teaching-Orienteering
Activity, that is, the orienteering dimension of the activity. In this idea, the motive is
to enable humanity’s social experience to become the subject’s experience; a motive
oriented toward historically produced knowledge, which is constituted in the object
94 E. S. Araujo

of the activity. The unit of identity between motive and object is the social need for
the formation of human personality.
How is this dimension fulfilled in the Teaching-Orienteering Activity? In peda-
gogical intentionality, when a certain theoretical plan orients the methodological
plan. And, for that, it is necessary to understand the scientific knowledge to be
taught, considering its conceptual nexuses. It is necessary to understand how the
child learns and how humanity produced this concept and then define what are the
founding concepts that allow “o social significativo tenha ao mesmo tempo signifi-
cado pessoal” [the socially meaningful to have, at the same time, personal meaning]
for the student (Rubinstein, 1973, p. 213). It is in the encounter between social and
personal meaning that the motive and object of the teaching activity are substanti-
ated. But how does it become practice? The activity is carried out through actions and
modes of actions (operations), which is why the most apparent aspect of the activity
is its executing dimension. However, it must be remembered that this is regulated by
the orienteering dimension, which means that the execution is subordinated, at least
initially, to the orienteering character of the activity.
From the perspective of Teaching-Orienteering Activity (Moura, 1996, 1997,
2000, 2001; Moura et al., 2010), the orienteering dimension takes place in the
executing dimension, primarily by presenting students with a learning trigger situ-
ation. This action seeks to reproduce the essential relationships of the object of
human activity in the teaching object, in form and content, so that the unity between
the logical and the historical is reproduced in the teaching activity. According to
Rubinstein (1973, p. 135), it means
[...] elaborar adequadamente a matéria de aprendizagem para uma melhor apropriação,
garantindo assim a apropriação de uma determinada matéria, de um determinado objecto.
Este objecto possui a sua própria lógica objectiva, que não se pode impunemente descuidar. O
“lógico”, que progressivamente se vai formando no processo de evolução histórica do conhec-
imento, é também o comum que se relaciona tanto a evolução histórica do conhecimento
como o processo do estudo entre si. E é aí que se assenta a sua unidade. Na evolução histórica
do conhecimento percorreu-se um determinado caminho para elaborar este “lógico”, cujo
caminho reflecte a lógica do objecto de acordo com as condições concretas da evolução
histórica [to properly elaborate the learning subject for a better appropriation, thus guar-
anteeing the appropriation of a certain subject, of a certain object. This object has its own
objective logic, which cannot be neglected with impunity. The “logic”, which is progres-
sively formed in the process of the historical evolution of knowledge, is also the common
that relates both the historical evolution of knowledge and the process of study to each other.
And that is where its unity is. In the historical evolution of knowledge, a certain path was
taken to elaborate this “logic”, whose path reflects the logic of the object according to the
concrete conditions of historical evolution].

In the learning trigger situation, there is the presentation of the problem that aims
to highlight the social need of man to produce certain knowledge. The modes of
action corresponding to such actions can be conformed to virtual stories,4 games, and
emergent everyday situations, for instance. Let us illustrate this with the virtual story

4 Virtual Stories, in Moura’s proposal, are configured as “problem situations posed by characters
from children’s stories, legends, or from the history of mathematics itself as triggers of the child’s
thinking in order to involve them in the production of the solution to the problem that is part of the
6 Teaching-Orienteering Activity: Principles and Practices … 95

that has been constituted as a mode of action that allows the child, when understanding
the problem of a certain character, moved by social need, to find the motive to seek a
solution. The solution corresponds, in these circumstances, to the teaching object. Let
us see a case. The teacher of the first year of elementary school intends to work with
the Decimal Numeral System (DNS). What is its pedagogical intentionality? That
children appropriate humanity’s social experience is present in this mathematical
knowledge. The object of human activity in this knowledge is linked to the movement
of control, representation, and calculation of infinite quantities in a totally abstract
way: with no visible signifier/signified relationship. In terms of teaching objects,
this is equivalent to a numeral system that comes from the idea of “base”, which
corresponds to a certain number of signs, whose value changes depending on the
position they occupy in a given order. The teaching object focuses on the conceptual
nexuses of the DNS: the magnitude defined by the base principle. Understanding the
decimal system, according to Vigotski (2010, p. 373),
[...] leva à possibilidade de ação arbitrária nesse e em outro sistema. O critério de tomada
de consciência reside na possibilidade de passagem para qualquer outro sistema, pois isto
significa generalização do sistema decimal, formação de um conceito geral sobre os sistemas
de cálculo [leads to the possibility of arbitrary action in this and other systems. The criterion
of awareness lies in the possibility of moving to any other system, as this means generalization
of the decimal system, the formation of a general concept about the calculation systems].

The triggering situation proposed by the teacher is based on the Virtual Story called
“Shantal and Mira”.5 In this story, the characters are children from a distant country
whose parents are shepherds and calculate the flock using an instrument that children
do not know (in this case, the abacus). Desiring to know how it works, they ask their
parents, who wisely ask them to discover it themselves and propose a challenge:
they indicate on the abacus the number of animals that each family had. In order to
perform the reading, it would be necessary to understand the operating logic of the
instrument. A conflict arises, as each family had a different marking on the instrument
and the children, sensorially, noticed that the marking, if they considered one mark
for each animal, would not correspond to the number of the herd of each family.
They really wanted to solve the problem and write a letter to the children of a school
who attend first grade, who, when asked for help, are willing to solve the problem.
To what extent does this situation reproduce humanity’s social experience? The
abacus, as an instrument of calculation, probably has its origins in eastern civiliza-
tions, before the Christian era (Ifrah, 1998). In some of these civilizations, its use
is still present, both in social activities and at school. A reality that is different in
Western civilizations.6 Its operating logic is based on the idea of position, with base
ten, as in the Decimal Numeral System. Its creation was probably due to the need to

context of the story. In this way, counting, performing calculations, and recording them can become
a real necessity for them (Moura, 1996, p. 20, our translation).
5 Version initially produced in Oficina Pedagógica de Matemática (USP) in 1995 and reintroduced

in the OBEDUC/PPOE project in 2011.

6 In America, the Incas developed something similar, the quipu, a cord with knots, in which they

made the marking considering the position and nine units (IFRAH, 1998).
96 E. S. Araujo

calculate taxes and large commercial operations. Transmitting this instrument from
generation to generation is also a social need. The children, by identifying with the
characters in the story, are motivated to discover how this instrument works, which
is also unknown to them. The questions that instigate them are: how can they use it to
count? Why do they need to find out? Because they need to write a letter in response
to the girls who asked for help. The letter resource creates an appropriate cultural
context for the first year of Elementary School, considering the social function of
writing.
Once the problem is presented, through the learning trigger situation, the teaching
activity is unfolded by the discussion and understanding of the problem: at this
moment, children raise hypotheses, in such a way that language organizes thought
and allows someone’s understanding to be shared by someone else, as explained by
Rubinstein:
Devido ao carácter semântico da linguagem humana, podem, na comunicação consciente,
com o próximo, designar-se os pensamentos e sentimentos e comunicá-los aos outros. Esta
função semântica e significativa tão necessária para a comunicação formou-se dentro da
própria pessoa, ou melhor, na comum actividade social dos homens, actividade que implica
a comunicação prática real e ideal que se produz ao falar e que influencia mutuamente
as duas partes. O homem fala para influir, se não directamente na conducta, ao menos
no pensamento, nos sentimentos e na consciência dos demais seres [Due to the semantic
character of human language, in conscious communication with others, thoughts and feelings
can be designated and communicated to others. This semantic and significant function, so
necessary for communication, was formed within the person, or rather, in the common social
activity of men, an activity that implies the real and ideal practical communication that is
produced when speaking and that mutually influences both parties. Man speaks to influence,
if not directly on behavior, at least on thought, feelings, and conscience of other beings].
(Rubinstein, 1973, p. 18–20)

In the case of the virtual story about Shantal and Mira, children understand the
problem: how to count using this instrument? How does it work? In this course of the
activity, the children do not discover the operating logic, which reveals that, in fact,
the logic of the abacus does not maintain a signifier-signified visual relationship,
that is, it is not possible to understand its rules sensorially. But the children raise
hypotheses: why do they not put all the marks on the same line? Do the marks have
different values, depending on the lines? At this moment of testing the hypotheses,
the first understandings of the concept emerge: the quantity defined by the principle
of place value. So, in order to test the hypotheses, it is proposed that children use
the abacus to keep the score in a bowling game; thus, they can notice some of its
principles: multiplicative, positional, operating value of the number zero. The teacher
intervenes revealing the functioning of the instrument. Here is a child’s record of this
activity, followed by its translation (Fig. 6.2).
[Diary of May 20, 1997]
I arrived at school and played with my friends before entering the classroom.
Coming in, we had an art education class. Coming back, with teacher Elaine, she
read a story for us to understand a way to calculate everyone’s total in the bowling
6 Teaching-Orienteering Activity: Principles and Practices … 97

Fig. 6.2 Record from a child’s notebook: explanation of how the abacus works (OBEDUC/PPOE
collection)

game. Coming back from the break, the teacher brought a thing called “abacus”. It
was like this:
[drawing]
The beads are worth 1 and 10.
The first line only goes 1 by 1.
The second only goes 10 by 10.
You cannot put more than 10 in the first one. If you get to 10, you pass a bead from
the line that is worth 1 to the line that is worth 10. The bead will be worth 10. For
example:
[drawing]
You put 5 here and 9 here. Then, you remove everything from the 9 and leave just
one bead to move to the next part.
[drawing]
I Will Make a 59.
This is an abacus.]
This child’s record shows us the movement of their thought when explaining the
abacus. We must consider that this is a six/seven-year-old child, in the first school
98 E. S. Araujo

Fig. 6.3 Record of children replying to the Virtual Story (OBEDUC/PPOE collection)

year,7 who seeks, through a written production that has a certain formal logic, to
show how this counting instrument works, which is why there are some slips, gaps,
typical of the thought organization process. However, the central idea of place value
is explained. Thus, we arrive at the definition of a solution with the creation of a
conceptual model that can be expressed, for example, with the writing of the letter
in response to the problem presented in the Virtual Story by the characters Shantal
and Mira.
Let us see how a pair of students replied, using the comparison between the
Decimal Numeral System and the abacus (Fig. 6.3).
[October 7, 1997

7This material refers to the activity carried out in the period prior to the nine-year-long Elementary
School.
6 Teaching-Orienteering Activity: Principles and Practices … 99

To Shantal and Mira, from Fernanda e Juliana, from Escola Cooperativa de Cotia.
Good morning, Shantal e Mira. We loved the abacus. We are learning a lot from it.
Everyone found it very easy to do math on it. We have a different way to count. Our
counting is like this:
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. This number 0 is like this [drawing]; this number 1 is like
this [drawing]; this number is like this [drawing]; there is the number 3, which is
like this [drawing]; this number 4 is like this [drawing]; this number 5 is like this
[drawing]; this number 6 is like this [drawing]; this number 7 is like this [drawing];
this number 8 is like this [drawing]; the last one is the number 9, which is like this
[drawing]. Shantal e Mira, Elaine, our teacher, got a letter from you. She liked it
very much. So she asked everyone to write you a letter. The letter is over. If anything
happens, send us a letter.
BYE!!! Shantal and Mira.
[drawing]]
We can observe in the record of these children some issues relevant to the study
activity, which was the focus of OBEDUC/PPOE. There is a motive (Leontiev, 1983)
to write the letter: to show the characters how the instrument works; and this becomes
possible for the children in the first year comparing the abacus with the Decimal
Numeral System, the object of study in this case. Although we may not observe all
the conceptual links of the DNS in this record, some are manifested, such as the case
of the operational value of zero and the use of the numerical sign. Another issue that
deserves to be highlighted concerns the meaning that the activity aroused, which may
be observed in the content and form of the letter, the drawings, the decoration, the
availability to continue the conversation, the way of initiating the subject, saying that
everyone loved the abacus, which brings us back to an issue pointed out by Leontiev
(1983, p. 246):
O que é que confere sentido ao que a criança estuda? O que faz com que ela compreenda
a necessidade de estudar, os motivos reais de seu estudo? Conforme nosso postulado geral,
a relação do objeto direto da ação relaciona-se ao motivo da atividade, dentro do qual está
inserida dita relação, é o que nós denominamos sentido. Isto quer dizer, que o sentido que
adquire para a criança o objeto de suas ações didáticas, o objeto de seu estudo, se determina
pelos motivos de sua atividade didática [What gives meaning to what the child studies? What
makes the child understand the need to study, the real reasons for their study? According to
our general postulate, the relation of the direct object of the action is related to the motive
of the activity, within which this relation is inserted. It is what we call meaning. This means
that the meaning that the object of the didactic actions acquires for the child, the object of
study, is determined by the motives of the didactic activity].

Thus, resuming the pedagogical intention of the teaching activity that had as
its teaching object the conceptual nexuses of DNS—the magnitude defined by the
base principle—from the use of the solution, it was possible, in different situations
such as games, virtual story, and graphic activities, the regulation of action and the
design of a mental plan. This can be seen, for instance, in the systematization that a
pair of children carried out about the rules of the Decimal Numeral System, or the
Hindu-Arabic system (Fig. 6.4).
100 E. S. Araujo

Fig. 6.4 Synthesis of the

decimal numeral system
elaborated by the children
(OBEDUC/PPOE collection)

[Indo-Arabic numeral rules

The numbers have an order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Putting the numbers together,
other numbers are formed; example: 9 and 8 = 98/1 and 0 = 10. By changing the
place of numbers, we can write any quantity. Example: 1 and 3 = 13. 1 is worth 10
and 3 is worth 3. 3 and 1 = 31. 3 is worth 30 and 1 is worth 1.]
What to say about this synthesis? Did the object of human activity presents itself
as an object of teaching activity? Could it be that the social experience of humanity,
in creating a way to control the variation of quantities that was agile, efficient, safe,
and easy, was appropriated by the new generations? We think so. And so, again, we
use Leontiev to understand this relationship. And so, again, we make use of Leontiev
to understand this relationship:
[...] no basta que el niño asimile el significado del tema dado, sea teórico o práctico: es preciso
que se conduzca como corresponde con respecto a lo que estudia, es preciso educar en él la
actitud requerida. Sólo así los conocimientos que va adquiriendo serán para él conocimientos
vivos, llegarán a ser auténticos “órganos de su individualidad” y, a su vez, definirán su actitud
hacia el mundo [It is not enough to assimilate the meaning of the given object, regardless of
what is done in theoretical or practical form, it is also necessary that an adequate relationship
is reproduced in it concerning what is studied, it is necessary to educate it in this relationship.
It is only satisfied if this condition, the acquired knowledge, becomes for him (child) living
knowledge. They will be genuine “organs of his individuality” and, in turn, will determine
his relationship with the world]. (Leontiev, 1983, p. 246)

We could end this text with the child’s and Leontiev’s words, such as the
potentiality they represent. However, we would like to outline some considerations
returning to the issue we initially proposed: to think about the organization of teaching
through the Teaching-Orienteering Activity, as a way of theoretically answering the
fact that “we do poorly in mathematics”. In this way, we could say that the dimen-
sions of orientation and execution of the Teaching-Orienteering Activity configure
a general way of organizing teaching. This implies thinking of the teaching activity
6 Teaching-Orienteering Activity: Principles and Practices … 101

as the unit of the curriculum. From the teaching activity presented, we can visualize
a synthesis of these dimensions when considering the curriculum practices:
• Trigger situation: it reproduces the essential relationships of the object of human
activity in the teaching object, in form and content, considering the unity between
the logical and the historical.
• Virtual story: humanity’s social experience becomes the subject’s personal
experience.
• Presentation of the problem: it highlights the social need to produce the solution.
• Discussion and understanding of the problem: hypothesis raising and language
organizing thought.
• Testing of hypothesis: first understandings of the essential relationships of the
concept.
• Definition of a solution: elaboration of a conceptual model.
• Use of the solution: regulation of action, design of a mental plan.
Next, in the development of the defended thesis, that a certain theoretical-
methodological basis guides the pedagogical process, and thus the student’s perfor-
mance is linked to the teaching organization modes, we seek to bring the final
considerations with a conceptual tone to the continuity of the debate.

6.5 To Continue the Dialog

The discussion about the teaching activity as a curriculum unit, as defended in

the OBEDUC/PPOE Project, has been oriented by three questions. The first one
refers to the use of the term unit in the sense attributed by Vygotsky (2010), as
a unit of analysis, which means for us that the teaching activity synthesizes the
curriculum. Another issue concerns the understanding of the term “teaching activ-
ity”. By “teaching activity”, we are designating the pedagogical activities developed
by the teacher. What we defend is that such activities are organized considering the
theoretical-methodological bases of the Teaching-Orienteering Activity. That is, the
TOA can be constituted as a teaching activity, but not every teaching activity is a
TOA. The last issue is related to our understanding of curriculum; in this case, it is
about thinking of the curriculum from the perspective of teaching organization.
Thus, for the curriculum to be carried out through teaching activities, from the
perspective of Teaching-Orienteering Activity, it is necessary to consider some prin-
ciples, which we have seen throughout this study and may be summarized in the
Fig. 6.5.
In this sense, the course of the pedagogical activity (unity between teaching
activity and study activity), from the perspective of the Teaching-Orienteering
Activity, involves reproducing, in form and content, the object of human activity.
This means that in the learning trigger situation we recover the historical-logical
movement of the concept through a triggering problem whose solution goes through
the process of collective creation, through raising and testing hypotheses, in which
102 E. S. Araujo

Fig. 6.5 Curriculum principles for the teaching activity

the conceptual nexuses present in the activity become evident, that allow us to reach
a solution that may be used socially. This means reproducing, in form and content,
the object of human activity, in its most elaborate dimension, in pedagogical activity.
In this way, when studying the fact that “we do poorly in mathematics”, we outline
principles and practices that make it possible to change this reality. It is possible to
make another history; it is possible to “do well in mathematics”. And the idea we
presented to organize teaching was the Teaching-Orienteering Activity. Idea in the
sense indicated by Kopnin, when stating that in the idea, in the field of scientific
production,
1) estão expressas em forma concentrada as conquistas do conhecimento científico; 2) ela
leva implícita a aspiração à realização prática, à sua corporificação material, à afirmação
de si; 3) ela contém o conhecimento de si mesma, das vias e meios de sua objetivação, é
um plano de ação do sujeito [1) the achievements of scientific knowledge are expressed
in a concentrated way; 2) it implies the aspiration to practical achievement, to its material
embodiment, to self-affirmation; 3) it contains the knowledge of itself, of the ways and means
of its objectification, it is a subject’s plan of action]. (Kopnin, 1978, p. 337)

This means thinking about teaching organization as an action in the field of scientific
knowledge, in the understanding of education as a science. That is, we may have an
idea of how to organize teaching, an idea in the field of scientific knowledge, which
justifies defending a “generalized mode of action to organize teaching”, which we call
6 Teaching-Orienteering Activity: Principles and Practices … 103

Teaching-Orienteering Activity, and that, by containing the principles and practices,

it is configured as a theoretical-methodological basis for both teaching activity and
study activity.
In this sense, we can think of a curricular proposal that allows teachers and students
to appropriate historically produced mathematical knowledge, in the dimension of
the unity between form and content. This implies making another history in the
teaching and study of mathematics, in which “doing poorly in mathematics” is a fact
that has been overcome.
Within the scope of the OBEDUC/PPOE research project, this meant developing
a curricular design based on the principles and practices of Teaching-Orienteering
Activity. In order to do that, we carried out the study of the axes presented in
“Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais” [National Curriculum Parameters] (Ministério
da Educação e Cultura, 1998), namely: Numbers and Operations, Measures and
Quantities, Shape and Space, and Treatment of Information. This required the study of
the logical-historical movement of the conceptual nexuses of each axis and the elab-
oration of a system of concepts, from which we developed a teaching proposal orga-
nized in the pedagogical material entitled “fascicle”. Four fascicles were produced.8
Their structure, in general, comprises the map of the system of the teaching objects
of the axis (curricular design); the historical synthesis of the concept (the historical-
logical movement of the concept), and triggering situations (Virtual Story) and their
developments.
This experience was made possible by the structure and functioning of a program
such as OBEDUC, which, by promoting the unity between teaching, research, and
extension, enables the school to be present at the university as well as the university
to be present at school. This produces a new quality in the relationship between the
university and public school, which involves an understanding of the social function
of the school as a social space in which knowledge is guaranteed as a good and
right for all. Thus, the results of a project that integrates universities with different
realities, researchers with mutual research objects and objectives, and schools, allow
human wealth, present in mathematical knowledge, to be appropriated by all, that is,
allow “doing well in mathematics” to be a reality for all.

References

Altmann, H. (2002). Influências do Banco Mundial no projeto educacional brasileiro. Educação E

Pesquisa, 28(1), 77–89. https://doi.org/10.1590/s1517-97022002000100005
Araújo, E. S., & Moura, M. O. D. (2003). Da formação e do formar-se: A atividade de aprendizagem
docente em uma escola pública.

8 The production of the fascicles involved all the participants in the project (undergraduate students,
graduate students, elementary school teachers, and coordinators of the centers), in such a way that
all the triggering situations were developed in the schools participating in the project, discussed,
presented, and reformulated in the annual meetings of the project, which is why it results in a
collective product.
104 E. S. Araujo

Figueiredo, I. M. Z. (2009). Os projetos financiados pelo banco mundial para o ensino fundamental
no Brasil. Educação & Sociedade, 30(109), 1123–1138. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0101-733020
09000400010
Frigotto, G., & Ciavatta, M. (2003). Educação básica no Brasil na década de 1990: Subordinação
ativa e consentida à lógica do mercado. Educação & Sociedade, 24(82), 93–130. https://doi.org/
10.1590/s0101-73302003000100005
Ifrah, G. (1998). Os números: A história de uma grande invenção. Globo.
Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais. (2014). Relatório Nacional PISA 2012:
Resultados brasileiros. Brasília. Retrieved from http://download.inep.gov.br/acoes_internaci
onais/pisa/resultados/2014/relatorio_nacional_pisa_2012_resultados_brasileiros.pdf
Kopnin, P. (1978). A dialética como lógica e teoria do conhecimento. Civilização Brasileira.
Leontiev, A. (1978). O desenvolvimento do psiquismo. Horizonte Universitário.
Leontiev, A. (1983). Actividad, conciencia y personalidad. Pueblo y Educación.
Lopes, A. R. L. V. (2009). Aprendizagem da docência em matemática: o Clube de Matemática
como espaço de formação inicial de professores. Ed. Universidade de Passo Fundo.
Makarenko, A. S. (1975). De mi experiencia de trabajo. In V. Kumarin (Ed.), Anton Makarenko: su
vida y labor pedagógica. Editorial Progreso.
Martins, L. (2006). A brincadeira de papéis sociais e a formação da personalidade. In A. Arce & N.
Duarte (Eds.), Brincadeiras de papéis sociais na educação infantil: as contribuições de Vigotski,
Leontiev e Elkonin (pp. 27–50). Xamã.
Marx, K., & Engels, F. (2011). A ideologia alemã. Boitempo.
Ministério da Educação e Cultura. (1998). Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais: Matemática.
Brasília.
Moraes, S. P. G., & Moura, M. O. (2009). Avaliação do processo de ensino e aprendizagem
em matemática: Contribuições da teoria histórico-cultural. Boletim De Educação Matemática,
22(33), 97–116.
Moura, M. O. (1996). Controle da variação de quantidades: Atividades de ensino. Feusp.
Moura, M. O. (1997). A atividade de ensino como unidade formadora. Boletim De Educação
Matemática, 11(12), 29–43.
Moura M. O. (2000). O educador matemático na coletividade de formação: uma experiência com
a escola pública (Doctoral dissertation). Faculdade de Educação, Universidade de São Paulo,
São Paulo.
Moura, M. O. (2001). A atividade de ensino como ação formadora. In A. D. Castro & A. M. P.
Carvalho (Eds.). Ensinar a Ensinar (pp. 143–162). Pioneira.
Moura, M. O., Araújo, E. S., Moretti, V. D, Panossian, M. L. & Ribeiro, F. D. (2010). A atividade
orientadora de ensino como unidade entre ensino e aprendizagem. In M. O. Moura (Ed.). A
atividade pedagógica na Teoria histórico-cultural. Líber Livro.
Nascimento, C. P. (2014). A atividade pedagógica da educação física: a proposição dos objetos de
ensino e o desenvolvimento das atividades da cultura corporal (Doctoral dissertation). Faculdade
de Educação, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo.
Rubinstein, S. (1965). El ser y la consciencia. Editora Universitaria.
Rubinstein, S. (1973). Princípios da psicologia geral. Editorial Estampa.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1991). Pensamento e Linguagem. Martins Fontes.
Vygotski, L. S. (1995). Obras escogidas (Vol. III). Visor.
Vygotski, L. S. (2001). Obras escogidas (Vol. II). A. Machado Libros.
Vigotski, L. S. (2010). A construção do pensamento e da linguagem (2nd ed.). WMF Martins Fontes.
Chapter 7
Processes of Abstraction, Generalization,
and Formation of Mathematical
Concepts: A Teaching Experience
with Future Teachers

Josélia Euzébio da Rosa

7.1 Presentation

This chapter presents some results from research on the mathematical thinking of
future teachers of Pedagogy Faculty at a university localized in Southern Santa Cata-
rina, Brazil. Along 2020s semester, an investigative teaching experience was carried
out with thirty-four students of the fourth and sixth periods enrolled in the subject
of Pedagogy Faculty called Fundamentals and Methodologies of Mathematics for
Elementary School Early Years, which took place remotely because of the pandemic.
This is a teaching experience report, linked to understanding that by teaching, you
learn, and through learning that one develops. However, it is not about any type of
teaching, but about an organized teaching based on the contents and methods which
allow developing theoretical thinking in future teachers from scientific knowledge
appropriation.
Teaching experiment was arranged through problem development, within
Learning Triggering Situations context. For the analysis, episodes that indicate the
movement of thought traversed by academics from the general to the particular and
singular were chosen.

J. E. da Rosa (B)
Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina Unisul, Santa Catarina, Brazil
e-mail: joselia.euzebio@yahoo.com.br

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 105
A. Veraksa and Y. Solovieva (eds.), Learning Mathematics by Cultural-Historical
Theory Implementation, Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical
Focus 7, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66894-4_7
106 J. E. da Rosa

7.2 Theoretical Context

This chapter is a result from an investigation whose purpose is at reflecting on the

limits of the way of organizing empirical teaching and its overcoming possibilities
based on two of the Historical-Cultural Theory developments: Teaching Guidance
Activity, also called teaching Guiding Activity, which has already been covered in
the previous chapter, and Developmental Teaching Theory.
In Basic Education, it is common to come across mathematical development
at an empirical level (Eriksson & Eriksson, 2021; Eriksson & Sumpter, 2021;
Rosa & Fontes, 2022; Venkat et al., 2021). In empirical thinking context, mathemat-
ical concepts are approached without the appropriate mathematics context, through
a linear and fragmented sequence, and from a direct and superficial relationship
between objects and phenomena with symbols and operations taken as a sequence
of procedures to be carried out, without understanding what generates such proce-
dures and with what purpose. Theoretical thinking, on the other hand, is further than
appearance, and enters the concepts essence (Davídov, 1988).
To develop theoretical thinking in schoolchildren, a Russian researcher group with
D. B. Elkonin and V. V. Davydov, among others, systematized the Developmental
Teaching Theory, and the Brazilian professor Manoel Oriosvaldo de Moura proposed
the Teaching Guidance Activity.
Teaching Guidance Activity constitutes a general way of teaching organization.
Teaching main content is theoretical knowledge, and therefore, its object is consti-
tution of students’ theoretical thinking in the knowledge appropriation movement
(abstraction, generalization, and concept). Teaching Guidance Activity is a teacher
and student training unit, since the teacher, when organizing actions, aims to teach,
requalifies knowledge (Moura et al., 2016).
As a theoretical-methodological proposal, Teaching Guidance Activity must
contain historical synthesis of the concept, teaching resources, analysis, and collec-
tive synthesis in its structure during performance of situations which trigger learning
(Moura, 1996).
Learning triggering situation consists of a proposal organized by the teacher who,
based on his or her teaching objectives, leads the conceptual movement, to be appro-
priated by the students, through a learning problem (Moura et al., 2016). Teaching
Guidance Activity, systematized within the Brazilian context, communes with the
task of the contemporary school, taken by precursors of Developmental Teaching
Theory.
[...] the task of the contemporary school does not consist in giving children a sum of known
facts but teaching them how to orient themselves independently in scientific information
and in any other one. This means that the school must teach students how to think, in other
words, actively developing in them the foundations of contemporary thought, and to do so,
organizing teaching that encourages development is necessary (Davídov, 1988, p. 3).

When taking as ours the task of the school proposed by Davídov (1988), and driven
by the mentioned theoretical assumptions, we ask: How to organize mathematics
7 Processes of Abstraction, Generalization, and Formation … 107

teaching with potential to promote the scientific concepts learning and development
of theoretical thinking?
In searching for answers process for the previous question, we take the move-
ment of mathematical thought of students of a Pedagogy Faculty, future teachers, as
research subjects to investigate, at theoretical level.
Historical-dialectical materialist method sustains our research, teaching, and
extension actions. One of the main characteristics of this method is the premise
that investigated phenomenon must be considered in its entirety, in inseparability
between theory and practice.
Research methodology used was teaching experience (Davídov, 1988). Such a
methodology is linked to understand that by teaching, you learn, and through learning
that one develops. However, this is not just any teaching, but an organized teaching
based on contents and methods which potentiate development of theoretical thinking
in students (children, adolescents, young people, and adults) from the scientific
knowledge appropriation.
This research methodology allows the researcher investigating the movement
of students’ thinking in the teaching and learning process. According to Davídov
(1988), teaching experience is characterized by researcher’s active intervention in
the processes he investigates. Therefore, it is essentially different from the verification
experiment, which highlights only the state already formed and presented by students.
This research proposal “[…] appears as an experimental education and teaching
methodology that drives development” (Davídov, 1988, p. 196). Performing teaching
experience sought to project and model the essential relationship of concepts in
learning process, as shown below.

7.3 Investigation Experimental Context

Along 2020s semester, a teaching experience was carried out with thirty-four students
of the fourth and sixth periods enrolled in the subject Fundamentals and Method-
ologies of Mathematics for Elementary School Early Years in Pedagogy Faculty. On
the first day class, the project was presented, and all academics agreed to collaborate
with the research.
The group was very diverse from an age viewpoint, with students from 18 to
48 years old. At the beginning of the semester, most academics were already starting
their teaching careers, through paid internships or teaching assistants to students with
special needs. Most of the group reported they experienced difficulties with math-
ematics in Basic Education, and that these difficulties turned, over the schooling,
into an aversion to this subject. Such aversion provoked anxiety and concern in
some students when the mathematics learning subjects started in the Pedagogy
Faculty. Over the semester, insecurities caused by previous negative experiences
were gradually and partially cooled.
The subject syllabus presents three broader goals: Expanding students’ need for
learn; developing theoretical thinking, intellectual autonomy, and creative activity;
108 J. E. da Rosa

and promoting development of different understanding, reflection, and analysis

modes. Within these broader goals context, the fundamentals of teaching organization
are studied to guide the learning process in Elementary School Early Years. Also,
there are development of: (1) foundations of scientific mathematical thinking; (2)
Mathematics concepts as universal language; (3) arithmetic, algebraic, and geometric
modeling of phenomena and processes; (4) logical thinking; (5) algorithmic culture;
(6) spatial imagination; (7) ability to build arguments; (8) asking questions; (9) ability
to analyze situations in terms of mathematical properties; (10) performing quantita-
tive and spatial relationships between objects to build an algorithm and find infor-
mation; (11) ability to solve problems through universal problem solving models;
(12) ability to plan; and (13) interest in Mathematics Education and desire to develop
mathematical knowledge in teaching at a theoretical level.
Intended skills, according to the teaching plan, are: learning autonomously and
thinking theoretically; need for continuous self-development; creative personality;
organization of the own study activity, by defining learning goals and modes of
study action; ethical commitment to the process of learning scientific knowledge and
developing students’ theoretical thinking; critical reading of the teaching organiza-
tion traditionally developed in Brazil; and recognition of possibilities of overcoming
the theoretical way of organizing empirical teaching in the study activity context.
Classes were held on Tuesdays, from 7:15 to 10:30 pm, through Zoom platform,
because of the pandemic caused the SARS-CoV-2. The classes were recorded by
the Zoom application and made available weekly by the head teacher, who is this
chapter’s author, to the students. There were fifteen meetings in all. To discuss in
this chapter, five episodes were selected, four from the tenth and one episode from
the eleventh class.
From methodological viewpoint, classes were held through dialogic study to
enable interaction among learning participants. Thereunto, there was a suggestion
that the cameras of the learning subjects be kept open during classes, so that everyone
could interact with everyone else. Microphones should only be opened during oral
manifestations.
During the classes, mathematical conceptual systems were developed from
Learning Triggering Situations, in line with theoretical foundations arising from
Developmental Teaching Theory and Teaching Guidance Activity. Conceptual
systems are understood as those concepts which are interconnected with each other,
either in an inverse operation form, or in the common operational core, such as
addition and multiplication, for example.
Therefore, in the classes, students not only reflected on theoretical foundations
related to the way of organizing teaching, but these foundations were experienced.
They were embodied, objectified in the collective development of the problem of
each Learning Triggering Situation.
Educational process organization took place through moments of previous studies,
carried out individually or in groups, and dialog of collective studies during classes.
Pre-reading material was posted on the class academic system in advance, so that
7 Processes of Abstraction, Generalization, and Formation … 109

everyone could carry out a preliminary study individually. The classes were devel-
oped with everyone and by everyone, through a joint action. Wherefore, in the collec-
tive and for the collective, academics were protagonists of their own learning and
development process. In addition, they were co-responsible for the learning and
development process of their colleagues through collaborative action.
During the search for problems solution, students were instigated to pose ques-
tions, formulate different hypotheses for solutions, and confirm or refute such
hypotheses.

7.4 From Totality to Analysis Clipping

Teaching experience was arranged through problems development in Learning Trig-

gering Situations context and previous study of texts that would support the reflec-
tions to be carried out in class. Mathematical concepts such as number, addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division, among others, were not approached separately,
but interconnected in their respective conceptual systems (Vigotski, 2001). Neither
moment nor part of the class was separated to talk about theoretical foundations of
teaching organization, nor to teach mathematical concepts. Reflections on theoret-
ical foundations previously studied by the students emerged during classes from their
objectification in the organizing way of teaching mathematical concepts. In addition
to developing problems presented in the Triggering Learning Situations, students
also crafted their own as well because it is understood that teacher training involves
not only learning the process of solving existing problems, but also proposing new
ones.
During the semester, Learning Triggering Situations were developed from the
study of discrete and continuous magnitudes, such as length, monetary value, area,
volume, time, angle, among others (Rosa & Albino, 2021; Rosa & Antunes, 2021;
Rosa & Becker, 2021; Rosa et al., 2021; Rosa & Marcelo, 2022; Rosa & Santos,
2020).
Given the impossibility of covering the entire teaching experience within the limits
of this chapter, to provide an example, a Triggering Learning Situation was chosen. It
was carried out with students along two classes which started at 7:15 pm and ended
at 10:30 pm. They were the tenth and eleventh classes. Reflections performed in
these two meetings reflect and synthesize the movement of thought covered by the
academics in previous classes.
Thereby, five episodes extracted from reflections regarding the movement of math-
ematical thinking followed by academics in the process of searching for a solution
to a problem are presented, as follows.
Teaching objective was reflecting with future teachers on development possibil-
ities of a mathematics conceptual system with children in the context of a learning
triggering situation.
Data source consists of transcription of students’ statements from the Zoom
recording. All the students agreed to participate in the research. To preserve their
110 J. E. da Rosa

Table 7.1 Learning triggering situation

Liandra’s request for help to students of the Pedagogy Faculty
Hello, future teachers, how are you? My name is Liandra, and I am your teacher’s goddaughter.
I am eight Years old, and I am enrolled in the second grade
She told me you are hard students and very helpful. So, I asked her to send you this letter
Now, during the pandemic, I am not going to school. My mother is who helps me with my
homework
Milaa , Physical Education teacher has sent a message to my mother with a task on long jump.
The message explains that I should make a mark in the sand, run to the mark, and then jump.
She challenged me to jump as far as possible
I jumped very high. My feet went so far that I had to support myself with my hands to keep from
hitting my butt on the ground. My jump was big, but my mom said it wasn’t that big. We didn’t
reach a consensus and I must report my jump measurement to teacher Milaa
Could you help me understand who is correct, me or my mother? How should I proceed to know
the correct measurement of my jump? If you find out, please send me a letter explaining how I
should proceed to correctly measure my jump
Thanks in advance,
Liandra
Note From Rosa et al. (2021)
a In Brazil, teachers are usually called by their first name

identities, the letter A means academic, followed by a number to reference them.

When the speech belongs to the research professor, it is indicated by PP.

7.5 Episodes Analyzed

Next, five episodes extracted from the tenth and eleventh classes are presented, from a
teaching experience carried out with students of the fourth and sixth periods of a Peda-
gogy Faculty, in the subject Fundamentals and Methodologies of Mathematics for
Elementary School Early Years I. Episodes showed by speeches by academics during
the reflections inherent in the process of searching for a solution to the triggering
problem of the Triggering Situation of learning below1 (Table 7.1).
Triggering problem of the Learning Triggering Situation entitled Liandra’s
request for help to students of the Pedagogy Faculty consists of the following ques-
tion: How should I proceed to know the correct measurement of my jump? It is
important highlight that the answer to this question goes through the general solu-
tion mode, valid for any measure of jump. From the search process for a solution
to the problem experienced by Liandra, five episodes were extracted for analysis, as
follows:

1 Learning Triggering Situation Liandra’s request for help to students of the Pedagogy Faculty was
elaborated based on the Triggering Situation entitled Julia’s letter to the first grade (Rocha et al.,
2019, p. 28).
7 Processes of Abstraction, Generalization, and Formation … 111

7.6 Episode 1—Revealing Elements that Make

up the General Solution Procedure

If we were in the classroom, not in the pandemic times, we would have taken
the students to perform long jumps outside, such as Liandra’s teacher suggested.
However, facing the pandemic context, the students were suggested to carry out
the jump in their own places. Based on this body movement performed during the
jump, students’ thinking was guided to reveal the essence of conceptual system to
be studied, as described below:
Autonomously and collectively, students raised some assumptions about what
would have caused the problem (Table 7.2) and concluded on the need for a common
measurement unit for mother and daughter to measure using a string. Thereby, they
revealed two important elements of the solution procedure to the triggering problem,
the distance length to be measured and the string length as a unit and measuring
instrument. But the values are unknown, how to represent them? The answer to this
question was as follows (Table 7.3).
Representing unknown measures through letter stems from the need to communi-
cate Liandra, the solution procedure under development. The group made the option
by the letters t and u (Fig. 7.1).
Figure 7.1 shows the first episode starting point, in which the jump distance length
(t) is represented, and the basic measure unit (u). With these two measures, the aim
was at revealing the genesis of the concept of number through geometric meanings
(segments and arcs) and literal ones (t and u). Arithmetic significance is revealed in
the second episode, during the measuring operation.

Table 7.2 Assumptions on the cause of Liandra’s problem

A3 : They might have used different units of measurement, maybe her mother measured using
her own steps. Because they are two different measurement units, a child’s step and an adult one,
right?
A5 : She mentioned in the text she has jumped very high. Jumping too high doesn’t mean that the
distance covered is too great
A4 : It depends on how she has put her feet down. Also, how she put her hands on the ground and
the place that the marking was considered, where she put her hands or where she fell
A5 : There is no way to calculate it. You must establish a fixed unit of measurement
A16 : Using an object
A20 : Maybe a string
Note From Rosa et al. (2021)

Table 7.3 Representation of

A11 : You must assign a letter because we don’t know the size
unknown values through
A21 : It can be any letter
letters
Note From Rosa et al. (2021)
112 J. E. da Rosa

Fig. 7.1 Two elements that

compose the problem. Note
From Rosa et al. (2021)

7.7 Episode 2—Modeling of Basic Relation of General

Solution Procedure

In the second episode, the essential relationship was modeled in object, graphic, and
literal forms. Data revealed and abstracted in the first episode enabled modeling the
essential relation of the number concept by the need for measurement (Table 7.4).
From the suggestion by A5, “Introducing the measurement unit u in the course”,
the measurement was performed by overlapping the string on the length of the jump
distance, and a picture was shown through a screen shared with the group by Zoom.
The unit was marked with a dash until it reached the point where Liandra’s feet
touched the ground. During the measurement, the numbers were synchronously regis-
tered on the number line. Therefore, when the first measurement was carried out, the
number was registered on the number line, and so on. This process was concluded
by the construction of Fig. 7.2.
Applying process of the measurement unit on the magnitude has geometrical
character. The number of times the unit fits in the magnitude translates the arithmetic
content, which arises from the algebraic relationship between quantities. Numerical
property of the magnitude varies according to the variation of the measurement unit
(Caraça, 1951).
From the measurement (Fig. 7.2), the group concluded the measurement unit (u)
repeated itself six times in the magnitude measured (t). Behold, the third element

Table 7.4 Reveling essential relation from the need for measurement
PP: […] What is the arithmetic value of t?
A5 : You must use the measurement unit that we have there, which is the string. You must see
how many times it will repeat itself
A18 : The number of times u will repeat itself within T
A17 : We must start the measurement from the starting point
PP: And how are we going to represent the starting point on the number line?
A3 : Zero represents the starting point
PP: And how do we carry out the measurement?
A5 : Introducing the measurement unit u in the course
A2 : In fact, how many times does the string fits
Note From Rosa et al. (2021)
7 Processes of Abstraction, Generalization, and Formation … 113

Fig. 7.2 Measurement. Note

From Rosa et al. (2021)

of the essential relationship of the number concept arose: the number of times a
measurement unit fits into a quantity to measure. These three elements compose the
essential relationship from which the natural and rational numbers originate (Rosa,
2012). Interconnection of these elements is made explicit in the graphic modeling
(Fig. 7.3).
Based on the graphic modeling (Fig. 7.3), we question: how to algebraically
represent the relationship between the measures t and u? Students proposed the
following models (Fig. 7.4).
When concluded the previous modeling (Fig. 7.4), A14 asked a question
(Table 7.5).
The question by A14 promoted the continuity of the modeling process toward
maximum abstraction, or as suggested by A9 , toward the universal model (Fig. 7.5).
In Fig. 7.4, despite using letters, it was still dealing with specific modeling, valid
for cases in which the measurement unit fits six times the magnitude measured.
The question by A14 triggered the continuity of the abstraction and generalization
process toward the universal model (Fig. 7.5), and therefore, valid for measuring
any magnitude from any unit measurement, regardless of the number of times the
measurement unit fits into the magnitude measured. Next, based on the assumption
of a Liandra’s new need, the need for transform the model was introduced.

Fig. 7.3 Graphic modeling.

Note From Rosa et al. (2021)

Fig. 7.4 Literal modeling.

Note From Rosa et al. (2021)
114 J. E. da Rosa

Table 7.5 Need for modeling process continuity

A14 : We are already in the literal [representation]. But would it be, for now, the junction of the
literal with numeric one? [Regarding the numbers one and six presented in the models]
PP: Is it possible to advance in the modeling process through yet another abstraction movement?
A5 : It is possible to put a letter representing the number six. Everything can be represented by
letters, then just replace the letters
A9 : Then it would be the universal model
Note From Rosa et al. (2021)

Fig. 7.5 Maximum

abstraction of essential
relationship. Note From
Rosa et al. (2021)

7.8 Episode 3—Deduction of a New Relationship

In the third episode, transformation of the essential relation model for the study
of its properties was performed to reveal interconnections of the conceptual system
under study. To trigger the model transformation process, the class was informed that
Liandra and her mother used a common measurement unit. Then, the hypothesis that
mother and daughter would have adopted different measurement units, as supposed
in the first episode, was refuted. Hence, new questions were asked by the researcher
(Table 7.6).
New hypotheses have emerged, and now the finding of the cause of the conflict
between Liandra and her mother opened the way to study the relationship of
inequality and difference between the measurement results.
Some students have suggested that to solve the problem Liandra could consider
his mother’s measurement, how far the hands touched the ground. Others indicated
the possibility of considering the measurement carried out by Liandra, measuring

Table 7.6 Need for model transformation

PP: What could have happened? Liandra thought she had jumped too far, but her mother didn’t
A21 : Maybe one considered the hands on the ground and the other as far as the feet touched
A22 : In the long jump, no matter where the feet touch if some other part of the body touches
first. Even the feet touching far, if the hands touched the ground behind the body, what will be
measured is from the point where it jumped to the first mark. In this case it was where her hands
touched the ground
A16 : The rules must be considered [long jump ones]
A2 : If you measure by the feet, it is larger, and by the hands, it will be smaller
A5 : The mother considered the hand
Note From Rosa et al. (2021)
7 Processes of Abstraction, Generalization, and Formation … 115

Fig. 7.6 Subtraction

operation on the number line.
Note From Rosa et al. (2021)

from where the feet touched the sand to where the hands touched, to subtract that part
from the whole. As example, if Liandra concluded that the jump measured six units,
it would only be necessary to subtract the difference. The suggestion was accepted,
and Fig. 7.6 shows the procedures:
Figure 7.6 represents operation 6 – 2 = 4 on the number line: when subtracting
the invalid part (2), results the valid part of the jump (4), according to Table 7.7.
Reveling subtraction as an inverse movement to that performed by Liandra in the
jump coincides with theoretical meaning of that concept in natural numbers context.
Subtraction is the operation performed when the whole is known and one of the parts
is unknown (Matos, 2017). In natural numbers context, subtract a unit occurs by
shifting to the left on the number line (Silveira, 2015).
When asked “what would be the inverse operation of that represented on the
number line”, students answered addition, and A9 detailed: “four plus two equals
six”. They were asked how they could represent the relationship between the parts
and the whole in literal form. They suggested representing the parts and the whole
by “different letters” (A20 ), and “they will represent different things” (A22 ). After
defining the letters that would be used, students developed the following literal
models (Fig. 7.7).

Table 7.7 Internal movement of elements that compose subtraction

A17 : It is subtracting two from six
A2 : It’s shortening the length
A9 : It is noticeable that direction has changed, right? It’s decreasing
Note From Rosa et al. (2021)

Fig. 7.7 Literal modeling

from the conceptual core
constituted by the
whole-parts relationship.
Note From Rosa et al. (2021)
116 J. E. da Rosa

Model transformation process showed by Fig. 7.7 subsidized the reflection on

some addition and subtraction properties. These abstractions represent the relation-
ship between the T, V, and N measures in addition and subtraction operations context.
In other words, from the cell geometrically expressed through segment and arcs, the
abstract models are deduced, which in summary reflect the whole-parts relationship.
When returning to Liandra’s problem, students concluded that it would be solved
by subtracting the invalid part of the jump from the distance she jumped, regardless
how much she has jumped and the size of invalid part. It is therefore a general solution
procedure.
In summary, in the third episode, reflections were conducted until reaching the
abstraction and generalization of the general model for solving problems involving
addition and subtraction operations (Matos, 2017): if the two parts are known, the
operation to be performed is addition. When the whole and one of the parts are known,
it is a subtraction. This is the essential constitutive relationship of the nuclear cell
that connects addition and subtraction in dialectical unity.
Then, new elements of conceptual system under study were revealed in the third
episode, such as parts and whole, from elements revealed in the first action and
modeled in the second one. Therefore, there was an overcoming due to the incor-
poration of previous actions. Genesis of multiplication and division concepts was
revealed along with the number, in dialectical unity as well, and only later the genesis
of addition and subtraction concepts was introduced.

7.9 Episode 4—Summary of Two Previous Relations

Are the reflections carried out so far enough to guide Liandra in the search for a
solution to her problem? And if the string does not fit an entire number of times in
the valid part, how should Liandra proceed? When answering these questions, A9
suggested subdividing the string. It was divided into half (Fig. 7.8).
Subdivision of measurement basic unit into two equal parts was not sufficient to
perform the measurement accurately (Fig. 7.8); the result was a little more than three
measurement units. Next suggestion was to subdivide the unit into three equal parts,
which enabled the measurement, as shown in Fig. 7.9:

Fig. 7.8 Revealing

intermediate measurement
unit. Note From Rosa et al.
(2021)
7 Processes of Abstraction, Generalization, and Formation … 117

Fig. 7.9 Measurement using

basic and intermediate
measurement units. Note
From Rosa et al. (2021)

By dividing the unit into three equal parts, two of them fit in the valid part of the
jump that remained to be measured, that is, two thirds. Then, from the procedure
revealed in the second episode, a new measurement unit was deduced, the interme-
diate one, which in the example under analysis, corresponds to a part of the basic
measurement (u). The group and the researcher decided that each subdivision of the
basic measurement unit would be represented by the letter p and there was a ques-
tion, on how would be algebraic representation of the relationship between p and u
(Fig. 7.10).
This movement was important to guide students’ thinking beyond body movement
and object representation exposed in the images of the situation, so that they entered
the interconnection of these elements. Next, there was another question (Table 7.8).
Students were questioned the reason why eleven thirds, and the answer culminated
Fig. 7.11.
The tenth lesson was completed by explaining the reason why the answer was
eleven thirds through the arithmetic expression (Fig. 7.11).

Fig. 7.10 Revealing internal

connection of basic
measurement unit and
intermediate one. Note From
Rosa et al. (2021)

Table 7.8 Implementation of

A17 : What is the measurement result? [Fig. 7.9]
the general solution procedure
A9 : Three whole parts plus two thirds
A5 : 3u + 2p
A24 : Three plus two thirds
A9 : I could say it’s eleven thirds
Note From Rosa et al. (2021)
118 J. E. da Rosa

Fig. 7.11 Implementation of

the general solution
procedure. Note From Rosa
et al. (2021)

7.10 Episode 5—Answer Letter

Next class started with groups elaborating the answer letter to Liandra. The activity
took one hour. Then each group presented its version of the letter. Answer letter
elaborated by the first group that presented its activity was chosen to show in this
chapter because they finished first and they have no interference from other groups’
presentation, as given in Table 7.9.
Development of the Triggering Learning Situation was concluded by elaboration
an answer letter to the problem, entitled Liandra’s request for help to students of the
Pedagogy Faculty. Unfortunately, there was no time to study the pattern measurement
unit (meter) from the need to communicate the result of the measurement, so that
Teacher Mila could understand exactly what the measurement of the jump distance
was, since there would be no way for her knowing the measure of the length of
the string used by Liandra. Therefore, our suggestion for future experiences with
the triggering situation in reference is to problematize the need for standardized
measurement unit, its multiples, and submultiples. Discussion presents the research
findings, as follows.

7.11 Discussion

Triggering Learning Situation entitled Liandra’s request for help to students of the
Pedagogy Faculty enabled students to carry out an objective operation: long jump
body movement. This movement was important in interpretation process of the
situation that gave rise the problem whose solution involves the number concept.
Length magnitude was the reference around which the reflections took place
focusing on the relationship between the length of the jump distance (whole) and the
measurement length unit (part).
Because such measures were unknown, they were represented in graphic and
literal forms (Fig. 7.1). Relationship between the whole (jump distance length) and
parts (measurement unit length) was revealed in the measurement operation (Fig. 7.2)
and consolidated through the graphic model (Fig. 7.3).
7 Processes of Abstraction, Generalization, and Formation … 119

Table 7.9 Answer letter to Liandra presented by group 1

Hello, Liandra. We are students of the Pedagogy Faculty, and we know the difficulties that
remote classes resulted in
So, we decided to help you with your Physical Education activity. We are aware of your inquiry
regarding the jump you performed, in which you had doubts about the length measurement
Firstly, so that you can measure the jump distance, you need to consider the magnitude
(everything that can be measured or counted) involved, i.e., the length, a continuous quantity (it
can be increased or decreased in small parts) therefore you must choose a standard measurement
unit that will be used to measure the entire length
We suggest that you use a malleable instrument (object), it can be a rope, a string, whatever you
have at home that you can bend, which is flexible. It will be your basic measurement unit
Then you need to know how many times the basic measurement unit fits within the total length
of your jump, considering the rules of the long jump that must be measured from the starting
point to where you marked and arrived
Maybe the measurement of your string does not fit the length, and then you will have to
subdivide it (dividing basic measurement unit again)
You can use a letter to represent the basic measurement unit, the jump length, and the
intermediate measurement unit (subdivisions) you use
For instance, we assume you choose the letter M to represent the total jump length distance, the
letter X to the basic measurement unit, and p1 to represent subdivisions
So, you need to measure how many times X fits into M, and if you need any subdivision, you
will use the intermediate measure p1
Finally, we have a universal model that you can apply in any length measurement situation:
M = X. N + p1 . Y,
where
M: Total length distance;
X: Basic measurement unit;
N: Number of times the basic measurement unit is repeated;
1
p:Intermediate measurement unit;
Y: Number of times the intermediate measurement unit is repeated
We hope we have helped you with your problem with measuring your jump
From now on you can use this formula in any situation regardless the distance of any length to
measure
A big virtual kiss from the students A16 ; A11 ; A5 ; A20 e A4
Note From Rosa et al. (2021)

From this operation, a third element arose: the number of times the measurement
unit fits into the magnitude measured. In other words, this is the result of mediation
process. Measurement result appears as a number. Here, the number emerged as a
singular form of general relationship representation between the magnitude measured
and measurement unit. When varying the size of the measurement unit and/or the
magnitude measured, singular result may also vary, as occurred in the fourth episode.
Graphic model (Fig. 7.3) is constituted as general base for four particular mani-
festations of the number concept expressed through multiplicity and divisibility rela-
tions (Fig. 7.4). Each element is a singular manifestation of a particular relationship.
For instance, number t is a singular form of manifestation of particular relation of
multiplicity between the values p and u (t = p.u).
120 J. E. da Rosa

Assuming new conditions experienced by Liandra allowed students deducing

fresh ways of solving the problem from general relationship. In previous episode,
numbers were revealed as singular manifestations of particular relationships of multi-
plicity and divisibility sustained in general relationship between whole and parts.
Arrival point in previous episode is the starting point for the continuity of reflec-
tions. After revealing the numbers, students proceeded to operationalize them, in
addition and subtraction context. Thereunto, they established the intrinsic relation-
ship of the body movement performed during the jump with a model that fixes
the whole-parts relationship in subtraction operation context (Fig. 7.6). Next, they
recorded the general basis of the whole-parts relationship through arcs and segments
(Fig. 7.7) and deduced from it four of its particular manifestations (v = t – n; n = t
– v; t = v + n; and t = n + v). Similar movement happened in the second episode,
but in multiplicity and divisibility relations context. Therefore, the cyclic character
of the movement between general and particular was detected.
Adding new problem conditions enabled deducting new solution methods to the
initial problem, including the synthesis of general solution procedure, valid for any
measurement unit, even standardized ones.
In the fourth episode, with variation in the jump length measurement, the measure-
ment result changed as well. Its singular expression was then in fractional form,
but the general way to obtain the number remained: multiplicity relationship and
divisibility between magnitudes.
In the fifth episode, based on the reflections carried out throughout the process,
students prepared the answer letter to Liandra. Answer letter was an important eval-
uation instrument on the students’ learning process on the general procedure for
solving the triggering problem.

7.12 Conclusion

Development was carried out with future teachers exactly as it is done with children
in Basic Education because we understand that rethinking the organization mode of
teaching is necessary, both from the content viewpoint and the method.
Body movement of the jump constituted the concrete starting point. Reflections
on body movement subsidized revealing the essential relation, its abstraction, and
generalization through modeling process. As expressions of abstractions and gener-
alizations means, the models were mediating elements between the concrete starting
point (real concrete) and the concrete arrival point: answering the triggering problem
based on the reflection synthesis carried out throughout the process.
Therefore, the conclusion is that the mathematical thinking movement covered
by future teachers, when developing a situation that triggers learning, followed from
the real concrete to the abstract, and from abstractions to concrete as a synthesis of
multiple determinations. The teaching experience concretely lived based on length
magnitude was paramount to guide reflections performed at abstract level.
7 Processes of Abstraction, Generalization, and Formation … 121

Triggering Learning Situation is not limited to a situation that problematizes and

reproduces human needs that historically gave rise to mathematical concepts, and
it also aims at problematizing needs which afflict humanity in contemporary times.
The plot of triggering situation Liandra’s request for help to the students of the
Pedagogy Faculty makes it possible to reflect on some educational inequalities in the
pandemic context: children from a more privileged class had access to computers
and applications that enabled remote classes, while others only received tasks via
WhatsApp to develop with their family’s help. Families are often illiterate, without
time to teach their children at home, without food to supply the lunch offered at
school, among other factors. Our intention, in future Triggering Learning Situations,
is to make more explicit, not only historical genesis of mathematical concepts, but
also the genesis of social inequalities. They must be at the base of the elaboration
process of the problems that trigger learning.

References

Caraça, B. J. (1951). Conceitos Fundamentais da Matemática. Lisboa: Livraria Sá da Costa Editora.

Davídov, V. V. (1988). La enseñanza escolar y el desarrollo psíquico: investigación teórica y
experimental. Trad. Marta Shuare Moscú: Editorial Progreso.
Davídov, V. V. (1982). Tipos de generalización en la enseñanza (3rd ed.). Editorial Pueblo y
Educación.
Eriksson, H., & Eriksson, I. (2021). Learning actions indicating algebraic thinking in multilin-
gual classrooms. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 106, 363–378 (Retrieved from: Learning
actions indicating algebraic thinking in multilingual classrooms (springer.com)). https://doi.org/
10.1007/s10649-020-10007-y
Eriksson, H., & Sumpter, L. (2021). Algebraic and fractional thinking in collective mathemat-
ical reasoning. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 108, 473–491 (Retrieved from: Algebraic
and fractional thinking in collective mathematical reasoning (springer.com)). https://doi.org/10.
1007/s10649-021-10044-1
Matos. C. F. (2017). Modo de organização do ensino de matemática em cursos de Pedagogia:
uma reflexão a partir dos fundamentos da Teoria Histórico-Cultural. 2017. 135 f. Dissertação
(Mestrado em Educação) – Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina, Unisul, Tubarão.
Moura, M. O. (Coord.) (1996). Controle da variação de quantidades: Atividades de ensino. São
Paulo: FEUSP.
Moura, M. O., Araujo, E. S., Souza, F. D., Panossian, M. L., & Moretti V. D. (2016). A atividade
orientadora de ensino como unidade entre ensino e aprendizagem. In: M.O. Moura (Org.). A
atividade pedagógica na teoria histórico-cultural. Campinas: Autores Associados, pp. 93–125.
Rocha, T. N., Brandão, V. L., & Rosa, J. E. (2019). Carta de Júlia ao primeiro ano. In I Seminário
Internacional de Educação Matemática na Teoria Histórico-Cultural e VI Seminário Interinsti-
tucional de Educação Matemática Unisul. Anais... Unesc, Unibave, Uespi. 18 e 19 de outubro
de 2019. Retrieved from: https://repositorio.animaeducacao.com.br
Rosa, J. E. (2012). Proposições de Davídov para o ensino de Matemática no primeiro ano escolar:
inter-relações dos sistemas de sistema de significações numéricas. 2012. 244 f. Tese (Doutorado
em Educação) – Universidade Federal do Paraná, Paraná.
Rosa, J. E., & Albino, W. A. (2021). Desenvolvimento do pensamento matemático, em nível teórico,
mediado pelo conceito de fração, a partir da grandeza comprimento. Revista Paranaense De
Educação Matemática, 10, 393–417.
122 J. E. da Rosa

Rosa, J. E., & Antunes, I. C. (2021). Modelagem à luz da Teoria Histórico-Cultural. Ensino Da
Matemática Em Debate, 8, 182–212.
Rosa, J. E., & Becker, F. (2021). Desenvolvimento de uma situação desencadeadora de aprendizagem
do conceito de ângulo por meio de quatro ações de estudo davidovianas em um contexto de
formação inicial de professores. Revista Obutchénie, 5, 484–516.
Rosa, J. E., & Fontes, M. S. (2022). Modo de organização do ensino de matemática à luz da teoria
do ensino desenvolvimental. Revista Brasileira De Educação - RBE, 27, 1–26.
Rosa, J. E., Garcia, M. A. C. N., & Lunardi, M. S. (2021). O desenvolvimento de Situações Desen-
cadeadoras de Aprendizagem por meio das ações de estudo propostas por Davídov: Uma artic-
ulação entre Atividade Orientadora de Ensino e Teoria do Ensino Desenvolvimental. Revista
Sergipana De Matemática e Educação Matemática, 6, 79–99.
Rosa, J. E., & Marcelo, F. S. (2022). Teoria do Ensino Desenvolvimental e Atividade Orientadora
de Ensino na sistematização do sistema de numeração no contexto da formação inicial de
professores. Revista De Educação Matemática, 19, 1–21.
Rosa, J. E., & Santos, M. D. (2020). Inclusão no Ensino Superior: os Desafios de Acolher Para
Transpor Barreiras. Perspectivas da Educação Matemática, 13, 1–20.
Silveira, G. M. (2015). Unidade entre lógico e histórico no movimento conceitual do sistema
de numeração proposta por Davýdov e colaboradores para o ensino das operações da adição
e subtração. Dissertação (Mestrado em Educação) – Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina,
Tubarão.
Venkat, H., Askew, M., & Morrison, S. (2021). Shape-shifting Davydov’s ideas for early number
learning in South Africa. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 106, 397–412. (Retrieved from:
Shape-shifting Davydov’s ideas for early number learning in South Africa (springer.com)).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-020-09993-w
Vigotski, L. S. (2001). A construção do pensamento e da linguagem. Trad. Paulo Bezerra. São
Paulo: Martins Fontes.
Chapter 8
Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving
in Elementary School

Yolanda Rosas-Rivera, Yulia Solovieva, and Luis Quintanar Rojas

Abstract This chapter shows a qualitative analysis of teaching methods of problem

solving in mathematics classes in primary school, specifically in the third grade of
primary school. The theoretical framework of reference was the historical-cultural
approach and activity theory. The participants were three teachers of the third grade
of primary school and their corresponding pupils. The work consisted in (1) appli-
cation of interviews to teachers, (2) observation of teachers and (3) evaluation of
the pupils. The results show favorable and unfavorable conditions in the work with
the solution of problems in classes. It is concluded that problem solving fulfills a
developmental objective when the formation of mathematical concepts is considered.
Provided analysis allows to arrive to three main conclusions about the relationship
between the process of teaching and learning, organization of the solving of problems
as intellectual activity and proposals for teaching of mathematics at primary school.

8.1 Introduction

The teaching and learning of mathematics is the common process of the work with
knowledge, in which teachers and pupils take part. This process requires various
activities and actions with objects that favor said construction. There are various
factors that have been investigated, e.g., teaching practices, learning strategies, the
use of teaching materials, the participation of non-formal knowledge, etc. Therefore,
it is possible to have an idea of the complexity that implies for teachers and researchers
to understand both the content of mathematics and the way of teaching it in the

Y. Rosas-Rivera (B)
National Pedagogical University, Mexico City, Mexico
e-mail: npyolandarosas@gmail.com
Y. Solovieva
Autonomous University of Puebla and Autonomous University of Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala, Mexico
L. Quintanar Rojas
Autonomous University of Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala, Mexico

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 123
A. Veraksa and Y. Solovieva (eds.), Learning Mathematics by Cultural-Historical
Theory Implementation, Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical
Focus 7, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66894-4_8
124 Y. Rosas-Rivera et al.

classroom, especially if it is in the early years, when the child’s thinking maintains
immediate characteristics of reality (concrete thought).
According to Cantoral et al. (2005) for there to be teaching and learning, it is
necessary that knowledge be an important object of the interaction between teacher
and pupils; an example of interaction proposed by the authors is the game. However,
it is possible to identify that although there are changes in the teaching proposals,
didactic materials and use of technology, as well as in the objective of the content of
the teaching of mathematics (algorithms to mathematical concepts) (Ávila, 2006), the
results obtained from these modifications are not yet perceived in the understanding
of teachers (Árevalo, 2015), the learning of pupils (Rosas & Solovieva, 2019) or in
their psychological development (Solovieva et al., 2021).
In this way, the objective of this chapter is to analyze teaching practices in primary
school, specifically in the subject of mathematics. The first part shows educational
research that is used as a theoretical and methodological basis. The second part
describes the methodology, from a qualitative approach. Thirdly, the main findings
are emphasized and finally the contributions and limitations of this study are analyzed
and compared.

8.2 Part 1. Educational Research

The proposal for the analysis of teaching practices in the classroom has been worked
on by CINVESTAV in 2017 (Weiss et al., 2019), considering ethnographic and didac-
tics as the main analysis in subjects such as Mathematics, Spanish and Science
in education. basic. The investigations proposed the use of classroom observation,
interviews with teachers, pupils and school administration. The main findings in
the mathematics classes in the specific work with the resolution of problems were:
the majority of the problems had an isolated content and with the purpose of applying
the knowledge taught (rather than the learned), problem solving in a group, in which
the teacher made the main decisions and the pupils only gave their approval, however,
few teachers worked with innovative problems and the creation of problems by the
pupils, which according to Tsvetkova (1999) is one of the main learning activities.
Another study that proposes the same line and research tools is that of Reséndiz
et al. (2017) to analyze didactic strategies in a multigrade group. The results of the
analysis of the problem-solving tasks showed: (1) content of the problems: nature of
the numbers, the number of operations, (2) types of help that the teacher gives: clarify
the problem (what is asked, what known), check or recall the procedure, and check
the result. It is possible to return to the challenges that arise in these classrooms, the
conclusion of the study also rescues the teacher’s training and her effort to generate
learning activities through problem solving.
Problem solving implies a constant interaction between teachers and pupils, the
authors Donoso et al. (2002) propose the following moments of analysis of mathe-
matics classes in primary education: (1) beginning, implies all the exchanges prior
to the problem-solving presentation (class objective, prior knowledge, methodology
8 Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving in Elementary School 125

and inquiry), (2) development, interactions during the problem-solving presentation

(problem presentation, problem analysis, problem execution, problem verification
and argumentation, (3) final, what happens after solving problems (integration and
assessment). Considering this structure, the authors analyze 23 audiovisual records
of classes of fifth and eighth grade mathematics teachers from public schools in
Chile. The results obtained were: (1) all the teachers identify the previous knowl-
edge of the pupils, however 16 of them do not express the objectives or expected
learning of the pupils. Other activities that were less worked on during the initiation
phase were the precision of the work methodology and the inquiry (questions about
the topic, the relationship of the topic with the resolution of problems), (2) in the
development phase, the teachers present the problems, whether they read it, analyze
it and execute it, the teacher does not inquire about the understanding of the problem
before proposing the solutions, as well as fails to relate the answers of the pupils with
the learning objective, inquire into the nature of the problem, in the selection of the
solution plan and organizing the solution strategies, and (3) in the closing phase, the
teachers integrate the contents and carry out the assessment (relation of the content
with daily life and recognition of the work of the pupils).
The analysis of the previous research work describes the actions worked during
the solution of mathematics problems in basic education, and it is possible to agree
in identifying the little or no orientation and interaction between teachers and pupils,
which does not favor their cognitive development.
A more detailed study on the orientation processes and that is related to the
analysis of the structure of the problem-solving activity has been investigated by
Nikola and Talizina (2017). The authors have proposed problem solving as an intel-
lectual activity, which contains psychological actions that can be taught as general
procedures. These actions are orientation, execution and control and will also be
described in the following section on theoretical concepts. Now we are interested
in showing that these general procedures have been investigated in the solution of
arithmetic problems (Rosas, 2012; Rosas et al., 2017) and solution of geometric prob-
lems (Volodarskaya & Nikiluk, 2017). Both proposals consider the cultural historical
approach, specifically the activity theory applied to teaching (Talizina, 2019).
The proposal of Nikola and Talizina (2017) consists of organizing the content
and the actions necessary to solve arithmetic problems that include the processes of
speed, distance and time. The authors use an experimental formative method with
the following activities: (1) formation of generalized concepts about the three basic
magnitudes (time, distance and speed) that constitute the specifics of all the situations
described in the problems, (2) the assimilation of the relations that exist between the
indicated magnitudes, (3) the assimilation of the relations between the particular and
general meaning of each magnitude and (4) the formation of the general method for
the moderation of any type of situation that is described in the problems.
The first step consisted of organizing the concepts of the processes (time, distance
and speed) and they developed tasks to form these concepts in the pupils through the
theory of the formation of mental actions (Galperin, 2016; Solovieva & Quintanar,
2019). For example, the concept of time was worked on from: identification of the
start and end of time measurement, identification of time units (time measurement).
126 Y. Rosas-Rivera et al.

The authors proposed the use of special models, time was represented in a segment
of the straight line, thus 1 h was represented as a 1 cm segment. After orienting the
model, the authors asked them to represent 4 h, then the first hour, the second hour,
the last hour, the first two hours, the beginning of the measurement, its end, etc. These
tasks allowed the pupils to differentiate from a temporal interval, both the moment
of time and the ordinal number of the time unit. Subsequently, once having worked
on each Magnitude (time, speed and distance), the authors set out to organize and
develop the general conditions to solve problems that these Magnitudes imply.
The main task of the general procedure for problem solving was to teach
schoolchildren to build the problem situation scheme and the problem-solving
scheme, draw up the plan and choose the means of solution. Nikola and Talizina
(2017) explain that the elaboration of the schema for the situation represents the
translation (comprehension) of the text of the problem in the language of the concrete
abstract model. In this model, all the concepts and relationships that participate simul-
taneously might be identified. In addition, it is necessary to consider the rules that
determine these relationships, for example, in the case of the concept of time, it is
necessary to know if there are one or more than one processes of time duration in the
problem, if they complement, diminish or act together. In conclusion, the generation
of the scheme allows one to abstract from the specific data of the situation and see the
given problem, as the single case of the relationships between the concepts addressed
in the problem situation.
From this research, it is possible to identify those orientations and contents that
make up the solution of mathematical problems. The main actions being: (1) analysis
of the situation of the problem, through the identification of sufficient and necessary
data, and relationship between the data, (2) elaboration of the solution scheme (rela-
tionship between concepts and their materialization), (3) elaboration of the plan
solution plan and (4) execution of the solution plan. All these actions can be directed
by the teacher.
In summary, it is possible to recover the solution of problems as an intellectual
activity, although it seems obvious that this is the case, we can identify in various
theoretical or practical proposals that study the solution of problems only such as
finding the mathematical operation and giving algorithm solution answers (Rosas &
Solovieva, 2019). It is for this reason that, in the following section, conceptual
framework, the main characteristics of problem solving will be described.

8.3 Theory of Activity Applied to Teaching

The need to carry out an analysis from psychology has been identified by authors such
as Talizina (1988, cited by García & Tintorer, 2016). The authors García and Tintorer
(2016) summarize in three main points the criticism towards the positions of methods
established by Poyla, from mathematics: (1) the solution of mathematical problems
is based on operational rules without considering a learning theory, (2) it does not
identifies the characteristic of transformation of the actions (material-mental), (3)
8 Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving in Elementary School 127

they are not considered means of support for the learning management process, and
(4) the approach of steps that they propose does not guarantee the efficiency of the
process of acquisition of intellectual activity (Solovieva & Quintanar, 2021). Based
on this analysis, this chapter will review the theory of development and learning
established by Vygotsky (2006) and his followers Davidov (1988), Galperin (2016)
and Talizina (2019).
In general, there are two perspectives on the path of assimilation of the content
of mathematics, the spontaneous path, and the directed path. According to Talizina
(2019), the spontaneous pathway is related to Piaget’s theory of development (1975),
who establishes that the child acquires knowledge from the biological basis, in this
way it is not necessary to organize the teaching of knowledge because the child when
he is prepared will be able to assimilate the mathematical concepts (Solovieva et al.,
2022). However, from his epistemological perspective, Piaget considers that mathe-
matics is assimilated by children from logical operations that they acquire through
the use of concrete objects. These logical operations consist of seriation, conserva-
tion, classification and the synthesis of said operations correspond to the concept of
number. In addition, Piaget (1975) considers that when solving mathematical prob-
lems or tasks it is necessary to understand the child’s solution process, for which
reason the adult should always establish questions that allow the child to express his
or her arguments (Kamii, 2003; Kamii & Dominick, 2010). In conclusion, Piaget’s
mathematics teaching proposal consists of discovering the knowledge and strategies
that each child creates to solve mathematical problems or tasks, it is important not
to limit their thoughts to the adult experience. Mathematics is a type of abstract
knowledge that requires mental actions carried out by the child himself.
Continuing with the second way of assimilation (directed), this perspective is
based on the following thesis established by Vygotsky: psychological development
from the beginning is mediated by education and teaching (Davídov, 1988). Vygotsky
(2006) specifies in this regard that teaching should not be directed toward the past but
toward the future of the child’s development, creating the zone of proximal devel-
opment. The objective of the teaching–learning process is to organize the necessary
conditions (pedagogical, psychological) to achieve psychological development of the
pupils as qualitative changes in the cognitive sphere but also in the affective-emotional
sphere. These changes will not appear spontaneously because of maturation, hence
the importance of knowing the postulates of this theory (Talizina et al., 2010).
In order to guarantee the pupil’s acquisition of mathematical concepts and actions,
the teacher has to provide precise knowledge on the content, structure and necessary
characteristics of the actions that are intended to be developed in the pupils, as well
as organizing the academic content in stages: material, perceptive, external language
and internal language (Galperin, 2016; Nikola & Talizina, 2017; Rosas et al., 2017;
Talizina, 2019).
According to Talizina (2019), during the process of organization of teaching, it is
essential to train specific skills of cognitive activity that go beyond the limits of the
academic subject, but at the same time, determine the success of their mastery. Such
is the case of problem solving in school sessions at the primary level. This cognitive
activity requires not only knowledge of arithmetic, but also an understanding of
128 Y. Rosas-Rivera et al.

the essence of the basic elements of the situation in question and the relationships
between them (Vicente et al., 2008).
In traditional teaching, the solution process is normally not disclosed to the pupil,
so awareness and reflection do not arise. The pupils act in a chaotic, empirical and not
very reflective way. Sometimes, they just may recognize the failure of this difficulty.
The solving of problems is not even considered as an activity in school sessions.
From the point of view of the reflexive organization of the activity (Nicola &
Talizina, 2017), during the process of solving pf problems, the pupil must start by
determining what actions he is going to carry out. To do this requires a reflective
identification of the problem question and the conditions under which the question is
established. The conditions of the problem always describe one or another situation,
behind which the pupil must discover the determined arithmetic relations, that is, he
must describe the situation that is mentioned in the language of mathematics. The
teacher should not simply present and announce the problem, but also show what
needs to be done for the pupil to solve any problem. For this, it is necessary to know
what type of intellectual actions the process of solving any problem of a given school
grade consists of and in what order they must be carried out (Talizina, 2019).
In relation to problem solving, it is emphasized that each problem includes a
fundamental question, the answer to which constitutes the objective of the solution. In
order to answer the final question (or intermediate questions) of the problem, certain
data must be analyzed, that is, obtain the necessary and sufficient information from the
mathematical and logical links formulated by the problem. This is obtained through
the orientation-investigative activity, which constitutes one of the components of
intellectual activity (Galperin, 2016).
Only on the basis of the data, obtained from the orientation-investigative activity,
the pupil can elaborate the general scheme for the content of the problem, establishing
the data, the essential relationships between them and the possibilities to answer the
final question. It is possible to find the arithmetic operations that correspond to the
created plan (Tsvetkova, 1999). The teacher should not simply present and announce
the problem, but also show what needs to be done for the pupil to solve mathematical
problem. To do this, it is necessary to know what type of intellectual actions are
included in the process of solving any problem of a given school grade and in what
order they must be carried out (Talizina, 2019).

8.4 Analysis of Teaching Methods of Problem Solving

This study will be presented in a more expanded way to contribute to qualitative

research on the teaching–learning process of mathematics. Selection of educational
institutions was based on the proposals and on voluntary disposition of the institutions
to take part in this intentional empirical research. Three private sector schools in
Mexico City and in the city of Puebla were chosen, each school used particular
method for teaching mathematics.
8 Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving in Elementary School 129

These teaching methods used by schools are based on the plans and programs
established by the Ministry of Public Education of Mexico (SEP, 2017). However, the
private schools may organize teaching practices and teaching activities considering
the pedagogical approaches related to the philosophy of each school. In other words,
the schools share a graduation profile for primary education, which is established by
the SEP (2017), but each school has the possibility of organizing its own forms of
teaching.
The first private school, located in Mexico City, uses the concept of competencies
as a pedagogical approach, carries out the certifications and courses taught by the
SEP (2017). The director and the teacher called this approach as “official” because
all teachers have certifications and take part in all activities proposed by the SEP.
Additionally, this school uses only those pedagogical resources, proposed by SEP
(2017). This school is called as Official school for convenience of the study.
The second private school, located in the city of Puebla, uses Montessori approach.
This school has certifications and professionalization courses on philosophy and
Montessori Teaching. In addition, it has contacts with National and International
Institutions, which use only Montessori pedagogical perspective for teaching process.
This school is called as Montessori school for convenience of the study.
The third private school, located in the city of Puebla, is unique school in the
country, which uses cultural historical approach and activity theory as the basis of
general teaching method. All teachers take part in professionalization courses and
learn Vygotsky’s pedagogical perspective. The school administration, the teachers
and advisers take part in national and international events and research related to this
approach (Solovieva et al., 2017, 2021). This school is called as Vygotsky’s school
for convenience of the study.
It is possible to identify that the Montessori and Vygotsky schools handle very
specific methods related to pedagogical perspectives and psychological development.
In addition, both schools propose specific methods of teaching mathematics in basic
education.
In all selected schools, the teachers reported satisfactory results on the pupils’
learning of mathematics, in addition to expressing their interest of participation in
research activities. Finally, a voluntary participation agreement was made and the
main benefit for the schools was to know those teaching factors that did favor the
learning of mathematics in the pupils, and those strategies that could be improved.
Table 8.1 presents the characteristics of the schools and participants.
The methods of the research were the interviews with the teachers, non-participant
observation and qualitative assessment of the pupils.

8.4.1 The Interviews

In each school, the interviews with the teachers were carried out. The topics of
interviews allowed to identify the teachers’ knowledge and skills to plan and carry
out problem solving.
130 Y. Rosas-Rivera et al.

Table 8.1 Characteristics of the schools

Schools Location Number Average age of Teaching method
of pupils the pupils
Official Mexico 8 8.5 years old Based on the official program
City (SEP-competitions)
Montessori City of 5 8.5 years old Based on the Bancubi material and
Puebla Montessori method
Vygotsky City of 6 8.7 years old Based on cultural historical approach and
Puebla Vygotsky’s proposals

Table 8.2 Characteristics of the teachers

Schools Official (S) Montessori (M) Vygotski (V)
Age 43 years old 38 years old 41 years old
Academic degree Degree in education Degree in Pedagogy Degree in Education
Teaching group Third and fourth grade 1st to 6th grade Third to fifth grade
Teaching experience 6 years 5 years 13 years
Training courses “CONOCER” (SEP) Bancubi Method Courses: development of
number concept, drawing
activity and story

The three teachers reported participation in constant training for teaching math-
ematics from the perspective that they work in the corresponding schools and have
spent an average of 5.6 years teaching from the school’s pedagogical proposal. All
three teachers reported having studies in education and experience as primary school
teachers in private schools. Even though the teacher from Vygotsky school has
13 years of experience, the teacher acknowledges to study and use this approach
for 6 years and since then she has considered this theory to organize her teaching
tasks.
Table 8.2 describes the characteristics of the teachers.
The interviews lasted an hour and a half. The main contents addressed were as
follows: conception of mathematics, systematization of content, types of orientations,
types of actions, mathematical concepts, and skills (problem solving) and updating
activities.

8.4.2 Non-participant Observation

This activity allowed us to relate the planned activities and those that are carried
out in the classroom. A log was used with the categories: content of mathematics,
systematization of content, types of orientations and actions. It was agreed to observe
three mathematics classes, in which problem solving was addressed. The duration
8 Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving in Elementary School 131

of each observation was approximately one hour and a half. It was agreed that the
researcher occupy a place that would allow the observation in a broader way.

8.4.3 Qualitative Assessment of the Pupils

Qualitative evaluation from the approach of Vygotsky (2006) and Talizina (2000)
allows us to understand the process and dynamics of solving mathematical problems.
Talizina (2000) refers to the following characteristics of the evaluation process: (1) the
evaluation of operations, objectives and reasons for problem-solving tasks is carried
out, (2) identifying the actions of the contents (identification of the final question-
orientation, identification of quantitative relationships-execution and answer to the
final question-verification), (3) the tasks must vary according to the content to identify
the degree of generalization, (4) the tasks can be solved on various levels of execution
(material, perceptual or verbal), (5) identify the degree of reflection in the responses.
The objective of qualitative assessment of the pupils consisted in analyses of the
skills, strategies and types of difficulties and mistakes. Such evaluation provided the
information about the contents and skills learned as well as the types of help they
required to achieve the solution of mathematical problems, that is, we were able to
identify the zone of real development and the zone of proximal development.
The evaluation lasted 40 min for the problem-solving section, it was carried out
individually. In the evaluation protocol, a total of 10 mathematical problems were
used. The types of mathematical problems are simple (one mathematical operation
for its solution), complex (more than one mathematical operation for its solution)
and no solution. In addition, they were divided into solution tasks: (a) problems given
by the researcher, (b) creation of problems from data provided by the researcher and
(c) creation of problems by the pupil himself or herself.

8.5 Results

The results are presented in two aspects, first describing the teaching process and
then its relationship with the learning obtained by the pupils. It is important to stress
that it was a big challenge to argue that the learning process depends predominately
on the teaching method used by the teachers. This analysis includes the aspects
of psychological development of the process of problem-solving, the planning of
intellectual actions and acquisition of concepts by pupils.
132 Y. Rosas-Rivera et al.

8.5.1 Problem-Solving Teaching Process

Analysis of semi-structured interviews and observation of classes allowed to charac-

terize the teaching proposal of the teachers of the three schools. Table 8.3 gives the
general elements that teachers consider for teaching mathematical problem solving.
The teachers were able to express their main objective of teaching mathematics.
The teacher of the official school (S) said that her main interest is that the pupils “solve
the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with numbers and
fractions” and the way to know if they achieve that objective is by solving tasks and
math problems. She also commented that the strategies that she uses for children
to solve problems consist of asking the pupils to read well, to underline key words
such as “more” “she divided” “decreased” that are related to arithmetic operations.
In addition, in mathematics classes, it was possible to identify her work dynamics.
The teacher gives them the following problem: “Ramiro has 360 packets of peanuts
in a sack, if he is going to distribute them among his 12 relatives, how many packets
will each one gets? Do you have too many? How many?”.
The teacher solves it with her pupils, she writes on the blackboard and passes the
pupils to solve the operation. The teacher writes on the blackboard: data, operation
and results. She then interacts with the pupils in the following way:
• Teacher: tell me (looking at the pupils) what are the data? What is the problem
talking about? The numbers what?
• A pupil: “packages of peanuts”
• Teacher: packets of peanuts, how many? Tell me the number, and then, among
twelve, I’m going to put it here, I hope you understand it, then we’re going to see
the operation, of course it’s…
• A pupil: 30
• Teacher: no, the operation
• Another pupil: 360 divided by 12,
• Teacher: Exactly, how did you do this? Right now, if I didn’t ask you, it’s as
you would like with subtraction or without subtraction (division algorithm by
subtraction or use of multiplication).
Subsequently, the operation (multiplication) is verified, and the problem is consid-
ered solved. Figure 8.1 shows the execution of a pupil from this school. The dynamics

Table 8.3 Elements of teaching the solution of mathematical problems

School S School V School M
Mathematical content • Empirical • Scientists (number) • Empirical
(operative) • System of concepts (operative)
• Operational skills (number, number • Definitions:
for problem solving system, fraction) covering isolated
• General characteristics
problem-solving
skills
8 Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving in Elementary School 133

Fig. 8.1 Example of the solving of mathematical problem

for other mathematical problems are the same: the teacher asks the pupil to read the
problem, asks questions about the data and writes them on the blackboard, asks the
pupil to go on to solve the mathematical operation and ends with writing the result.
In our analysis, this dynamic only corresponds to the work of mathematical prob-
lems from actions with algorithms. The teacher guides the pupils towards the iden-
tification of quantitative data, mathematical operation and result of the mathemat-
ical operation. The pupils only answer quantitative information, a reflection on the
whole situation of the problem and how the data is related to propose a solution is
not achieved. In addition, the verification of the solution of the problem is based on
solving another algorithm, but it does not analyze why it should be done. It was also
possible to identify that the only interaction proposed is teacher-group. Finally, it was
also possible to check that the algorithms that the pupils copied from the blackboard
had some errors related to the positioning of the digit.
The next school that we present is the Vygotsky (V) school. The teacher shared
her teaching objective. She mentioned that her main interest is “the development of
mathematical and conceptual thinking, e.g., that primary school children form the
concept of number… problem solving is aimed at reasoning and involves giving an
answer to a question, an analysis of data, likewise not all problems have a solution,
there is data that is left over, that is tricky”.
The teacher reports that she uses problems (written or dictated) with everyday
situations, sometimes the pupils create the problems. During class observation, it
was possible to identify the following dynamics: the teacher dictates and writes the
problem on the blackboard, she waits for the pupils to write. The problem was the
following: “Isa, she has a box with 2556 apples, five ninths are red, and the rest are
green, how many red apples are there? How many green apples are there? How many
apples are there?”.
The teacher reminds them that they are going to work with the orientation card.
The teacher distributes the orientation card to each pupil, so that they have it on their
desk during the work. Subsequently, the teacher asks, “someone help us read the
134 Y. Rosas-Rivera et al.

problem-solving card”. One pupil participates and reads the content of orientation
card loudly: “(a) read the problem, (b) with your words mention what is being asked
in the problem, (c) write what data you know, (d) answer if with the data you have,
you can answer the question, (e) choose the necessary mathematical operation and
write the formula, (f) carry out the necessary steps to solve the operation, (g) check
the result, this result should answer the final question of the problem”.
Further on, the teacher emphasizes these steps, explaining each one to the pupils:
“we are going to work in teams to be able to solve, when they have the work we
will verify it on the blackboard… okay… we are doing it… data, formula, operation
and result, and then what we work on is our schema and we represent it: (a) first
we have to read our problem, (b) mention what is missing to answer the question of
the problem, (c) write what data we know, remember that there are problems where
there is excess data, where data is missing, and where what is needed is, remember
that there are problems that cannot be solved (data is missing), (d) then we have to
respond with the data, of the ones we have, can we answer the question?, (e) after
choosing which operation we are going to use to solve the problem, and (f, g) well…
and after following the necessary steps, we see our unknown, and with our operation
we give the result to the question of the problem”.
It is possible to identify that throughout the procedure and the interaction with the
pupils, the teacher shows a problem-solving structure, which begins with the identi-
fication of the final question of the problem. The organization of data, operation and
results is also worked on, but the teacher uses constant reflection to identify relevant
data and their relationship, not only mathematically but also logically, when she
comments that the characteristics of the data (necessary data, missing, insufficient).
During the work, the teacher uses the actions in the materialized plane. The teacher
gives the pupils the pieces of leaves to represent the measurements of fractions. The
pupils had to represent it through their scheme and solve it in an external verbal
plane (writing). It is also possible to observe that the teacher uses the pupil-object
interaction when she asks them to materialize the measure; the teacher also used
pupil-pupil interaction, so that the problems were solved in pairs and then in groups
(Fig. 8.2).
To conclude this section of analysis, the M school is described. The teacher of this
school refers that the objective of mathematics is “the development of quantitative and
logical thinking skills, e.g., reasoning, probability, statistics and logic” in addition,
conceptualizes the number as “a friend/enemy, they are part of daily life, e.g., the
monetary weight”. To achieve this teaching objective, the teacher considers: the
attitude, the way of presenting the material and its use, the accompaniment and
correction, as well as the constant observation of the pupil’s disposition. Finally, the
teacher herself refers that teaching “is very sensory.”
In this school, no specific way of working with problem solving was identified.
The teacher expressed that this activity was carried out only spontaneously with
everyday situations.
For example, “if we are in the dining room and I arrive with cookies I tell the
pupils, I have 6 cookies and only three people, how many cookies will each of us have
to eat?” So “children do not use algorithms, but what they observe and distribute the
8 Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving in Elementary School 135

Fig. 8.2 Use of materialized

actions in solving of the
problem

cookies can be one by one or some already do two by two.” For the teacher, the main
objective is to know the answers of the pupils, how they build their results from their
experiences and knowledge obtained. In addition, the teacher commented that the
teaching of mathematical algorithms is taught up to sixth grade, so solving problems
with mathematical operations is worked on up to that grade. The mathematical tasks
that are worked on in the classroom is based on the exploration of the Montessori
material.
During math classes, it was possible to observe materialized actions. The pupils
always begin their learning with the use of the Bancubi material. The tasks they
perform with this material are as follows: to form quantities, to compare quantities,
operations of addition, multiplication, distribution, and some geometry tasks (calcu-
lation of area and volume). The pupils show pleasure toward the use of the material,
some play with the material before listening to the teacher’s instructions, but after
the repetition of the indication, they do what is requested. In addition, they asked to
use their material during the dynamic evaluation.
Sometimes the work in the environment is done individually with their Bancubi
book, the pupils sit where they like the most and each one works on the subject they
are learning. One pupil was working on equivalent fractions tasks, in the Bancubi
book, he was told to create a model with his cubes, similar to the exercise worked on
with his teacher. The pupil formed these models with his cubes, then he had to divide
the whole into as many parts as requested and color the corresponding part in his
book. Likewise, in this book, questions are raised that relate the parts to the whole,
in which the pupils not only answers with the quantities but writes their solution
process. The pupils usually comment aloud on the actions they are carrying out, they
also tend to explain some actions to their classmates and ask the teacher specific
questions.
Figure 8.3 shows an example of a task from the Montessori book.
136 Y. Rosas-Rivera et al.

Make with The

your cubes multiplication First factor Second factor Product
is…

2424
x 2424

Fig. 8.3 Example of the task from Montessori book

During the analysis, it was possible to identify the three proposals on the teaching
of the process of the solving of mathematical problems:
(1) A teaching method is oriented toward the operational part, that is, it focuses
on the solution of mathematical operations. The solving of problems aims to
find the quantitative data and relate them to the arithmetic operations, and the
problem is answered when the solution of the arithmetic operation is found.
In addition, this method makes use of figures and the solution of mathematical
algorithms, without understanding the decimal number system or the situation
of the problem (College S).
(2) A second method is oriented toward the development of mathematical concepts
and focuses on the understanding and solution of the problem question. It
makes use of the components of quantity, measure and magnitude. Mathematical
actions are results of the relationships of said components (College V).
(3) The third method consists of the development of the pupils’ own strategies, the
use of their knowledge to solve everyday situations. The teacher raises everyday
situations verbally and each pupil looks for a solution, also verbally (College
M).
The following section will describe the results of the dynamic evaluation applied
to the pupils of the three schools.

8.5.2 Dynamic Evaluation of the Process of Problem Solving

This section consisted of reading simple or complex mathematical problems to the

pupil and asking them to solve. If they needed to write, draw or ask for a word they
did not understand, they could do so. In general, the pupils liked this task, most of
the pupils asked for the problem to be repeated and they did an active repetition of it,
when the problem was simple, they repeated the data but when it was complex, they
repeated most of the tasks the problem situation. The task that the pupils from the
schools M and V liked the most was writing problems for their classmates, while in
school S, the pupils had strong difficulties collaborating on these tasks, they sought
8 Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving in Elementary School 137

to do complex problems for their classmates, showing some competition between

them.
Table 8.4 gives the types of errors and the external orientation needed by the pupils
to solve the problems. In total, the pupils worked with 11 problems. The types of
problems posed included the four mathematical operations and can be organized as:
(1) simple, involving a mathematical operation, with a variant in everyday situation
(books/shelves) and non-everyday situation (km/h), example: “A train it advanced
98 km during 8 h. How many kilometers does the train travel in an hour?” (2) complex
problems, which imply the solution of two operations (measurement conversion,
inferring data), e.g.: “Renata and Daniel went to the market and bought the following:
2 kilos of apple, 300 g of sugar and 1 kilo of pasta, how many grams did they buy in
total?”, (3) problems without a solution, which had a situation and a final question
plus these were unrelated, e.g.: “During 12 days, it was built a highway of 48 km,
how many cars passed during a day?, (4) creation of problems from data and free
creation of problems”.
The results of the pupils from school S and school M had difficulties in the
actions related to the understanding of the problem (orientation), specifically in the
identification of the initial question and identification of relevant information. Due to
this, the pupils form these schools had difficulties to recognize the problems that did
not have a solution, they only gave an answer to the mathematical operation, but they
did not understand that the situation of the problem was not related to the question
of the problem. These pupils have also committed mistakes during elaboration of the
solution plan and execution of the plan (Table 8.5).
The pupils of school S responded verbally to the mathematical operations of
the problems based on the estimation of results and the use of counting their fingers.
When they were asked to write the mathematical operations, the pupils had significant
difficulties, which consisted in the absence of any knowledge of the solution of
the algorithm (multiplication and division), organization of the algorithms, number
hierarchy, logical relationship between the data. The pupils of school M did not use
algorithms, since they are taught until sixth grade, but they asked to use Bancubi
cubes and performed addition and subtraction operations.
However, the errors were also identified when handling the measurement, and the
pupils had confusion between the colors of their cubes and their measurement value,
as well as in the conversion actions of the measurements, e.g., when they had to
convert hundreds to tens or tens to units. The count was also carried out by estimates
but with the help of their cubes. In relation to the verification element (control), the
pupils from both schools (S and M) had difficulties in answering the question of the
problem, they only mentioned the result of the mathematical operation. In addition,
the pupils from the school M require greater motivation to start solving problems,
they were happy to attend to work with us but when the problems were read to them,
they first waited for us to give them the answers, after asking them about the problem
and how they would propose To solve them, the pupils began to repeat the problem
as completely as possible and then used their material to carry out the operations.
138 Y. Rosas-Rivera et al.

Table 8.4 Results of the pupils during solving of simple and complex problems
Type of school Official school Vygotsky school Montessori school
Difficulties Aspects which • Difficulty to No difficulties Difficulty to
required identify the and no orientation identify the
orientation problem final needed problem final
question question
• Difficulty to • Difficulty to
identify the data identify the data
and organize it and organize it
(conversion) (conversion)
• Impulsiveness
and doughs
during
Execution of plan Executions of • Estimate of • Identification of • Use of addition
actions results the measure in or subtraction
• Organize data in the data operations
the algorithm • Use of didactic
• Hierarchical material to
value of the solve the
number operations
• Estimation of
results
Verification Control • Answer the No difficulties • Answer the
problem and no orientation problem
question needed question
• Verification of • Verification of
algorithm and algorithm and
problem results problem
results—
Answer the
problem
question
• Verification of
algorithm and
problem results
• Search for
constant
approval from
the evaluator
Types of support provided by the • Explanation of • Writing the • Explanation of
evaluator the use of the conversion and the use of the
measure organization of measure
• Writing the data • Use of bancubi
conversion and material
organization of • Concrete
data drawing support
• Repetition of • Constant
the problem animation,
• Mathematical support to
logic continue with
explanation the task
8 Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving in Elementary School 139

Table 8.5 Responses of the pupils of three schools

Type of problem Answers
Official Montessori
During 12 days, a 48 km road was built, how many (a) 48/ (a) 5
cars passed during a day? 12 (b) 12
(b) 48/ (c) Depends on how much
1 cement they are putting
(c) 12
+
48
Gaby is three times as old as her sister Sofía. If Sofía (a) 10 (a) 10
is 7 years old, how old is Gaby? (b) 28 (b) 28
(c) 16
(d) 20
A train travels 98 km in 8 h. How many kilometers (a) 48 (a) 11 and more 2
does the train travel in an hour? (b) 11 (b) 2 km
(c) 1 km

The types of support for both schools consisted mainly in the organization of the
problem understanding element (orientation), it was explained to them that mathe-
matical problems consisted of two parts: problem situation and problem question.
They were also given the logical and mathematical explanation of the problem infor-
mation, always keeping in mind the problem question. The explanation of the math-
ematical operations was carried out with the perceptual support (concrete drawing)
for the pupils from the S school and with the support of the Bancubi material for the
pupils from the M school.
On the other hand, the pupils from the school V managed to solve all the prob-
lems, only one pupil had difficulties executing the solution plan, specifically the
identification of the measure in the data. The problem involved several data with
different measurements and the pupil operated with all of them without converting
the measurements, so he was asked to write the data, and this helped the minor
perform the conversion and solve it.
According to Tsvetkova (1999) and Nikola and Talizina (2017), the mastery of
the use of mathematical concepts and skills consists of elaboration of problems
with the data given by the researcher and the possibility of independent elaboration
of the problems. Table 8.5 gives examples of elaboration of problems based on
the data given by the researcher, while Table 8.6 presents the examples of the own
elaboration of problems by the pupils are shown. According to the tables, it is possible
to identify that the pupils from the schools M and S had difficulties in identifying the
final question, as well as the relationship between the situation of the problem and
the question of the problem. The pupils also had difficulty identifying the decimal
number system.
The analysis of the data allowed to identify those elements of problem solving that
are worked on in the classroom in each school. Firstly, it is possible to identify the
knowledge that teachers have of mathematics and their main objective. The teachers
140 Y. Rosas-Rivera et al.

Table 8.6 Independent elaboration of the problems by the pupils

Collage Data given by the researcher Own elaboration
16 units, 6 tens and 4 hundreds
S “Laura did an operation that has 18 “Juan has $440 and he wants to buy marbles
units 6 tens and 4 hundreds, what is that cost $20. How much money does he
that number?” have left over?”
M “If I have 18 ice creams and they take “If my dad has 172 candies and my mom
away 6 ice creams and give me 4 ice gives him 129 and I give him 111”
creams”
V “Isa has 6 tens of cards, 4 hundreds of “Juan fell asleep at 9:45 pm. And he woke
cards and 18 units of cards. How many up at 6:50 am, how many hours did Juan
cards are there in all?” sleep?”

from the schools S and M do not consider the problem-solving activity as a teaching–
learning activity, only as a “creative” activity (school M) or as an evaluation activity
(school S). However, the teacher from the school V considered the process of problem
solving as an activity with the structure and specific actions, which were observed
in her classes.
Secondly, it is possible to identify the emphasis on the execution part of the math-
ematical problems. In the school S, the pupils were more concerned with solving
the operation than with understanding the problem, and it was also observed that
the pupils write their own problems they first chose the operation and then the situ-
ation. In contrast, the pupils form the school V achieved a better understanding and
corroboration of mathematical problems, and their writing of their own mathematical
problems was planned based on whether it would have a solution and based on the
final question. The pupils from the school M have only managed to establish exer-
cises, for example, how much is 400 + 27? The third element that we can consider
is the cognitive interest that arises when working with the solution of problems.
The pupils from the school S were only interested in responding quickly and being
the first to solve them, they were in competition mode with their peers. The pupils
from the school M required more support to think of other ways to solve, they only
proposed the use of their material and when they failed, they stopped admitting it.
The pupils from the school V were interested in solving complex problems, they also
focused on putting “traps” to the problems they elaborated.

8.6 Conclusions

Provided analysis allows to arrive to three main conclusions about the relationship
between the process of teaching and learning, organization of the solving of problems
as intellectual activity and proposals for teaching of mathematics at primary school.

1. The relationship between teaching and learning

8 Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving in Elementary School 141

Provided analysis allowed to identify the elements of teaching that are assimilated
by the pupils. The proposals of the teaching methods of the teachers are based on
particular perspectives of teaching. The teacher who uses the official competency
model as a frame of reference only focuses on reviewing results without analyzing
the cognitive or affective processes involved in solving problems. The teacher who
uses the Montessori reference framework, has as its main objective that the pupils
relate mathematical content with characteristics of the materials and associate it
with deaths, so that the pupils have their materials as their main resource. Finally, the
teacher from the school V, who uses Vygotsky as the main frame of reference, builds
the main tools in the classroom, such as the problem-solving card and the proposed
sheets that represent the measurements. What these three perspectives invite us is to
question the content we are teaching and how we are teaching it. The children of these
schools have a learning, the types of support were the difference between the results
that they obtained. That is, the evaluator managed to make everyone understand the
problem and its solution. To achieve this, the evaluator has mathematical, pedagogical
and psychological knowledge, she managed the use of Bancubi materials and the use
of algorithms. So, it is necessary to focus on where we want to take the pupil, to the
present or to the future.
2. Problem-solving activity as an intellectual activity
The study shows that the best assessment task is to ask children to design their
own problems, since this task requires specific knowledge of mathematics and their
cognitive interests.
The problem-solving process has specific psychological structure that derives
general skills. These allows the pupil to analyze and understand any problem, identify
relevant information and solve it reflectively. Knowing this structure allows teachers
to have a greater chance of developing pupils’ thinking. The process of formation of
mathematical concepts is required during solution of mathematical problems. The
use of everyday situations is not entirely favorable for the development of scientific
concepts, because no kind of generalization of the knowledge is used by teachers in
primary schools. On this topic, Valdés (2017) has mentioned that teaching process
should choose between presentation of solving as theoretical process or as practical
examples of concrete solutions and that it is extremely difficult to find teachers who
use both ways of teaching.
3. Proposals for teaching of mathematics at primary school
It is important to consider the present study might help to elaborate proposals for the
analysis of mathematics teaching methods in primary school. The use of dynamic and
qualitative research methods allows to provide further analyze the interactions and
contents that arise between teachers and pupils. The collaboration between teachers
and pupils is essential during teaching and learning process, which might not consist
only in common interact action, but also in joint and orientated work during the
process of solving of mathematical problems. The process of teaching and learning
must not be considered as two isolated activities, but as a unique form of collective
activity (Morales González et al., 2021).
142 Y. Rosas-Rivera et al.

References

Arévalo, E. (2015). How do they teach mathematics in elementary school? In XIV Inter-American
conference on mathematics education. Tuxtla Gutiérrez.
Ávila, A. (2006). Transformations and customs in school mathematics. Paidós.
Cantoral, R., Farfán, M., Correo, F., Alanís, J., Rodriguez, R., & Garza, A. (2005). Development of
mathematical thinking. Trillas.
Davídov, V. (1988). School education and mental development. Progreso.
Donoso, E., Valdés, R., & Cisternas, P. (2002). Pedagogical interactions in mathematical problem
solving classes. Paginas De Educación, 13(1), 82–116.
Galperin, P. Y. (2016). The formation of concepts and mental actions. In L. Quintanar & Y. Solovieva
(Comps.), The psychological functions in the development of the child (pp. 45–56). Trillas.
García, H., & Tintorer, O. (2016). Organization of the activity of problem situations in mathematics.
Atenas, 3(35), 30–38.
Kamii, C. (2003). The child reinvents arithmetic. Implications of Piaget’s theory. Machado Books.
Kamii, C., & Dominick, A. (2010). The negative effects of teaching algorithms in primary grades
(1st to 4th). Pedagogy Magazine, 43(1), 59–73.
Ministry of Public Education (SEP) (2017). Key learnings for comprehensive education. Basic
education study plan and program. Mexico
Morales González, M. A., Solovieva, Y., & Tapia-López, J. A. (2021). Study of professional
motives of teachers of primary school from the perspective of activity theory. Moscow University
Psychology Bulletin, 4, 104–142. http://msupsyj.ru/en/articles/article/9333/
Nikola, G., & Talizina, N. (2017). The formation of general skills for the solution of arithmetic
problems. In N. Talizina, Y. Solovieva, & L. Quintanar (Orgs.), Mathematics teaching from the
activity theory (107–128). CEIDE.
Piaget, J. (1975). Introduction to genetic epistemology 1. Mathematical thinking. Paidos.
Reséndiz, L., Block, D., & Carrillo, J. (2017). A mathematics class on application problems in a
unitary multigrade school. Educación Matemática, 29(2), 99–123.
Rosas, Y., & Solovieva, Y. (2019). Work with solution of mathematical problems in the third grade
of primary school: analysis of two private schools. Ensino em Re- vista, 26(2), 415–436. https://
doi.org/10.14393/ER-v26n2a2019-6
Rosas, Y., Solovieva, Y., & Quintanar, L. (2017). The formation of the concept of number: Appli-
cation of the methodical in a Mexican institution. In N. Talizina, Y. Solovieva, & L. Quintanar
(Orgs.), Mathematics teaching from the activity theory. CEIDE.
Rosas, Y. (2012). Formation of division action in children of second grade of primary school. Thesis
to obtain the Master’s degree in Neuropsychological Diagnosis and Rehabilitation, Facultad de
Psicología, BUAP.
Solovieva, Y., & Quintanar, L. (2019). The formative methodology in historical-cultural psychology.
Editorial EOS.
Solovieva, Y., Baltazar Ramos, A. M., Escotto, A., & Quintanar, L. (2017). Training of teachers:
Difficulties and proposals in Mexico. Journal of Studies in Education, 7(4), 78–91. https://doi.
org/10.5296/jes.v7i4.11805
Solovieva, Y., González, C., Rosas, Y., Mata, A., & Morales, A. (2019). Results of educational
research from the historical-cultural model and the theory of Activity at the Universidad
Iberoamericana de Puebla. Ensino em Re-vista, 27(n. Especial), 1256–1274. https://doi.org/
10.14393/ER-v27nEa2020-4
Solovieva, Y., Baltazar Ramos, A. M., Escotto Cordova, E. A., & Quintanar Rojas, L. (2021).
Experience in pre-school education in Mexico: Following L. S. Vygotsky. New Ideas in Child
and Educational Psychology, 1(1), 77–95. https://doi.org/10.11621/nicep.2021.0104
Solovieva, Y., & Quintanar, L. (2021). Organization of learning process according to activity theory:
Method in practice. Moscow University Psychology Bulletin, 4, 143–191. http://msupsyj.ru/en/
articles/article/9339/
8 Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving in Elementary School 143

Solovieva, Y., Quintanar, L., Baltazar, A., & Escotto, E. (2022). Vygotsky’s cultural-historical
position is not constructivist. Ciencia Ergo SUM, 29(2). https://doi.org/10.30878/ces.v29n2a3
Talizina, N. (2000). Manual of pedagogical psychology. Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí.
Talizina, N., Solovieva, Y., & Quintanar, L. (2010). La aproximación de la actividad en psicología y
su relación con el enfoque histórico-cultural de L.S. Vigotsky. Novedades educativas, 22(230),
4–9.
Talizina, N. (2019). Activity theory applied for teaching and learning. Autonomous University of
Puebla.
Tsvetkova, L. (1999). Neuropsychology of the intellect. UAEM.
Valdés, R. (2017). Developmental didactics of activities: The system of Elkonin-Davidov (1958–
2015). Obutchénie: Revista de Didática e Psicologia Pedagógica, Brasil, 1(1).
Vicente, S., Dooren, W., & Verschaffel, L. (2008). Use mathematics to solve real problems. Cultura
y educación, 20(4).
Volodarskaya, I., & Nikitiuk, T. (2017). The formation of the general method for solving problems
with geometric constructions. In N. Talizina, Y. Solovieva & L. Quintanar (Orgs.). Mathematic
teaching from the activity theory. CEIDE
Vygotsky, L. (2006). The development of higher psychological processes. Crítica.
Weiss, E., Block, D., Civera, A., Dávalos, A., & Naranjo, G. (2019). The teaching of different
subjects in primary schools: A look at teaching practice. RIME, 24(81), 349–374.
 Part II
Research and Proposals for Teaching
of Mathematics
Chapter 9
Development of Mathematical Skills
of Primary School Children
with Different Levels of Executive
Functions in CHAT-Based
and Traditional Programs

Daria Bukhalenkova, Anastasia Sidneva, Margarita Aslanova,

and Marina Vasilyeva

Abstract This chapter presents the results of a longitudinal study that examined the
development of mathematical skills of primary school children in relation to two types
of factors: the child’s educational environment and individual cognitive characteris-
tics. In terms of the educational environment, the participants varied in the curriculum
they received—a program built according to the principles of Cultural-Historical
Activity Approach (CHAT) was compared to a traditional program. In terms of indi-
vidual characteristics, children’ executive functions were examined as a predictor of
mathematical growth. The development of basic mathematical skills expected upon
completion of first grade (7–8 years old children) was assessed: writing numbers
in Base-10 number system, addition and subtraction (single-digit and double-digit
numbers), comparing numbers in magnitude, measurment (to measure objects with
a given unit of measurement), and finding the place of a number on a number line.
This study revealed that the higher the level of development was, the faster the devel-
opment of the two mathematical skills (writing numbers in Base-10 number system
and measurement) developed. However, no significant dynamics in any other skills
depending on the executive functions were registered. The CHAT-based educational
program shows only a tendency to produce differences in the development of writing
numbers in Base-10 number system, addition and subtraction of two-digit numbers,
and finding the place of a number on a number line. At the same time, children with
different levels of executive functions master mathematical skills equally within the
two educational programs examined. Thus, it cannot be suggested that one program

D. Bukhalenkova · A. Sidneva (B) · M. Aslanova

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
e-mail: asidneva@gmail.com
Federal Scientific Center of Psychological and Multidisciplinary Research, Moscow, Russia
M. Vasilyeva
Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Boston, USA

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 147
A. Veraksa and Y. Solovieva (eds.), Learning Mathematics by Cultural-Historical
Theory Implementation, Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical
Focus 7, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66894-4_9
148 D. Bukhalenkova et al.

is more suitable than the other for children with a certain level of executive functions;
children with different levels of executive functions develop mathematical skills at
their own pace independently of the program they follow. The results of the study
are analyzed in two theoretical perspectives of learning and development. The first
one, Piaget’s approach, emphasizes the need to adapt programs to the child’s level
of development. The other one, Vygotsky’s approach, reflects the idea that training
programs should be built in such a way that learning leads to development, and that
those mathematical abilities that otherwise would not have arisen, are formed.

In recent years, the question of conditions and factors related to mathematical

academic performance in the primary school has been actively discussed both in
science and in educational practice. One type of relevant factor includes individual
psychological characteristics, such as intelligence (Tikhomirova et al., 2019), self-
regulation (Elhusseini et al., 2022), metacognition (García et al., 2016), motivational
and personal characteristics (psychological well-being, motivation, and self-esteem
indicators) (Gordeeva et al., 2018), and foundational mathematical skills (Krutetskiy,
1998; Nunes et al., 2012). The second type of factor includes contextual character-
istics of the educational environment. These include methods, forms, and content
of educational programs in mathematics, the specifics of performance assessment,
and the time when a child begins to study mathematics (Watts et al., 2018). Personal
and professional qualities of the teacher and the school educational environment are
also taken into account. Finding an answer to the question of factors and condi-
tions is of high practical importance, because it can help to determine ways of
promoting mathematical development in primary school children. Nevertheless, the
majority of existing research focuses separately either on individual or on contex-
tual factors affecting the development of mathematical skills at this age, and the
methodology applied is usually cross-sectional. In our perspective, it is important
to investigate mathematical development longitudinally, in relation to both contex-
tual and individual factors. Such investigation should be based on empirical findings
from previous research, as well as a clear theoretical perspective. Multiple research
studies have demonstrated an important role of children’s executive functions in the
acquisition of basic mathematical skills (Lucangeli & Cornoldi, 1997; Kyttala et al.,
2003; Bull et al., 2008). With respect to contextual effects, educational programs
can be expected to play a role in children’s mathematical performance, although
this factor has been relatively understudied. The conceptual system and the type of
problems to be mastered by the child is of a special significance here. In this regard,
the CHAT-based programs (Cultural-Historical and Activity Theory) provide a valu-
able comparison standard, since they imply a deeper understanding of mathematical
concepts (Davydov, 1966; Aleksandrova, 2011). In the current study, we compare
the mathematical growth in students receiving the CHAT-based instruction to that
of students receiving a traditional instruction focused on the formation of specific
mathematical skills.
9 Development of Mathematical Skills of Primary School Children … 149

9.1 Mathematical Skills in Primary School

Educational standards of different countries often include the list of compulsory

mathematical skills to be developed by the end of the primary school (Primary School
Curricula on Reading and Mathematics in Developing Countries, 2012; Mathematics
Syllabus, 2013). The following requirements are common across many countries:
1. Rational numbers (reading, writing, comparison, regulation of numbers in the
decimal notation, number line, grouping and classification of numbers based
on different criteria) and operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and
division);
2. Magnitudes, such as mass, length, perimeter, square, speed, time (reading, writing
down, comparison), and their measurements by means of corresponding units;
3. Basic knowledge of geometry (recognition of geometrical shapes and deter-
mining size, calculation of length, perimeter, and area; evaluation of the figures’
dimensions and distances between them);
4. Solving textual problems (establishing the relationship between values in the
problem, planning the process of problem-solving, and arithmetical solving).
For the goals of the study, we made a list of skills that actively develop in the first
grade and we followed the growth of these skills from the beginning of the school
year until the end. Below is the list of the competences and skills we selected:
A. Symbolic numbers and their magnitudes
• Writing multi-digit numbers in the decimal system to represent a given
number of objects, and the reverse skill: selecting the correct number of
objects corresponding to a given multi-digit number (hereinafter, writing
numbers in Base-10 number system)
• Estimating number magnitude by placing a number on a number line
(hereinafter, working with a number line)
B. Arithmetic operations
• addition and subtraction of single-digit and double-digit numbers
• finding a missing part for addition and subtraction problems (e.g., missing
addend)
C. Geometric reasoning
• Measuring the perimeter of a square using standard or non-standard units of
measurement (hereinafter, the measurement)
150 D. Bukhalenkova et al.

9.2 The Relationship of Educational Program

and the Development of Mathematical Skills
in Primary School

Contemporary studies seldom examine the contribution of educational programs

(considering together the contents, methods, and technologies) to the mastery of
mathematical skills. Typically, separate characteristics of such programs are explored
(e.g., see Hattie, 2008). Yet, it is instructive to study the influence of an educational
program as a whole system on the development of mathematical knowledge. There-
fore, it seems important to select programs that are conceptually different (i.e., have
different content). Such programs can be found in the context of the Russian elemen-
tary school system. Several studies compared the academic outcomes of the CHAT-
based programs developed by D. B. Elkonin and V. V. Davydov to the traditional
ones (Tsukerman & Ermakova, 2003; Repkina, 1997; Pavlova, 2008, etc.). However,
these studies had certain limitations. In particular, as pointed out by Gordeeva (2020),
they utilized a cross-sectional rather than longitudinal methodology. Moreover, no
assessments took place before the first school year, and many of these studies
were conducted in laboratory schools, not the regular public ones. Besides, in these
research projects, children were often asked to solve the problems that were typical
for one of the educational systems under study (Sidneva et al., 2022). These features
limit the ability to determine the extent to which any observed variability among
students reflects a true difference in children’s mathematical thinking. In the present
study, the previous limitations were addressed by using a diagnostic toolkit, devel-
oped independently of specific educational programs, to longitudinally examine the
growth of mathematical skills in children attending regular public schools.
As indicated above, the CHAT-based programs have a different conceptual
approach to teaching math, compared to traditional math programs. That is, common
educational programs used in Russian primary schools are based on the principles of
traditional didactics first introduced by Komensky (Davydov, 1974). His fundamental
concepts were as follows: the principle of awareness and activity, the principle of visi-
bility, the principle of gradual and systematic learning, and the principle of repeated
practice to master new knowledge and skills. In his analysis of the educational content
of traditional didactics, Davydov pointed out the empirical generalizations that form
its foundation. They form through observation and comparison of single objects, the
definition of their common property, and their categorization into a group or class
(Davydov, 2000). Methodologically, the acquisition of new knowledge is basically
reproducing pre-set action pattern by the students, or remembering already estab-
lished knowledge (Pavlova, 2008). Thus, the primary mathematics course is based on
the conventional understanding of number as a common property of a set of objects,
i.e., as a numeric characteristic of a group. For example, comparing particular objects
(two apples, two pencils, two trees) students discover their common property, the
number of two.
CHAT-based programs build the mathematics course on the basis of a theoret-
ical concept of number as a relation between the measured magnitude (quantity,
9 Development of Mathematical Skills of Primary School Children … 151

length, area, volume, etc.) and the measure unit (Rosas et al., 2017, 2019; Solovieva
et al., 2016; Zárraga, Solovieva & Quintanar, 2017; Solovieva & Quintanar, 2022).
Teaching methods are also fundamentally different. That is, in the CHAT-based
programs, classes are organized around the solving of a specially selected problem,
and corresponding tools are offered. Then, the selected method is modeled, and
further, students and teachers work with the model created (most often, this model
comes in the form of a number line).
Note that the two types of educational programs differ in the content used for the
mastering of concepts and the ways to work with them. For instance, in the CHAT-
based system, both arithmetic operations and textual problems are first solved by
means of a model. Normally, it is a drawing or a scheme reflecting the key conditions
of the problem. Therefore, the ability to write down and read the inscription of a
number in decimal notation correctly depends on the understanding that number as
a relationship of system of measures. Conventional programs, in turn, focus on the
remembering of a particular algorithms and practicing the strategies of performing
the actions. Much less attention is paid to the understanding of what is beyond
them, and therefore, to the development of thinking. It was Vygotsky who first
emphasized the vital importance of the content of learning and the mastered scientific
concepts. He indicated that the consciousness and mastery of one’s mental processes
come “through the gate of scientific concepts” (Vygotsky, 1956, p. 247). Thus, what
distinguishes the CHAT-based program from a conventional one is the content. In
this regard, it is interesting to analyze if there are actual differences in the dynamics
of formation of mathematical skills in children studying under a traditional program
and CHAT-based one.

9.3 The Relationship of Executive

Functions and Mathematical Skills

Multiple research studies revealed that the academic performance in mathematics is

related to individual cognitive characteristics such as intelligence (Deary et al., 2001;
Sternberg et al., 2001), number sense (Halberda et al., 2008; Mazzocco et al., 2011),
speed of information processing (Semmes et al., 2011), and memory (Bull et al.,
2008). Moreover, development of self-regulation is of great importance, particularly
in primary school age (Jarvis & Gathercole, 2003; Bull, 2001). At this age, the child
has to adjust to a new system of social requirements and rules set not only by parents,
but also the teachers. Development of executive functions plays the key role in this
process, predicting not only children’s academic performance, but also their future
well-being (Belyaeva, 2018).
In the assessment of executive functions, we relied on Miyake’s theory (Miyake,
2000) because it was supported by previous research with a Russian sample of chil-
dren (Veraksa et al., 2022). According to this theory, executive functions include
three components: inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility.
152 D. Bukhalenkova et al.

Inhibitory control is the ability to suppress the dominant/pre-potent response in favor

of the less habitual behavior required to complete the task. Working memory is the
ability to retain and manipulate information to solve various problems within a short
period of time. Switching or cognitive flexibility is a characteristic that defines the
ability to switch between different stimuli, problems, ways to solve them, and so on
(Diamond, 2013; Duval et al., 2016).
Extant scientific reports present substantial data confirming the relationship
between the components of executive functions and children’s performance in mathe-
matics. In particular, it has been shown that working memory contributes to the acqui-
sition of mathematical skills (Bull et al., 2008; Kyttala et al., 2003). A meta-analysis
of 28 studies involving children with math learning difficulties demonstrated that
verbal working memory was the strongest predictor of mathematical performance
(Swanson & Jerman, 2006). Further, researchers reported the relation between chil-
dren’s inhibitory control and the early development of their mathematical skills.
Moreover, these relations persisted even when children’s age, mothers’ educational
level, and children’s vocabulary were taken into account (Espy et al., 2004).
The work by A. N. Veraksa and colleagues revealed that the level of executive
functions was directly related to the children’s ability to master new mathematical
concepts (Veraksa et al., 2020). In this study, children took part in a learning experi-
ment aimed at facilitating their developing understanding of the geometric concept of
area. The participants were randomly divided to groups that received one of the three
types of instruction: symbolic contextual, modeling, or traditional approach. The
results demonstrated that the effects of these different approaches varied as a func-
tion of the child’s level of executive functions. Students with low level of executive
functions mostly benefited from the symbolic contextual approach (ibid.). Students
with high level of executive functions showed better dynamics under the modeling
approach. Students with a medium level of executive functions got better results
with the traditional approach. This study confirms the significance of careful selec-
tion and design of individual educational programs taking into account the initial
level of executive functions development in children.
The data obtained through longitudinal studies demonstrates that executive func-
tions predict academic performance in primary school even when they are assessed as
early as preschool age (Duncan et al., 2007). Further, executive functions are closely
related to mathematical skills (Jarvis & Gathercole, 2003; Bull, 2001; Clements
et al., 2016; Veraksa et al., 2022). For example, both inhibitory control and cognitive
flexibility in preschoolers are predictors of mathematical skills later on (Best, 2011;
Espy, 2004). Meanwhile, low level of executive functions is often associated with
difficulties in math learning (Swanson & Sachse-Lee, 2001).
Meta-cognitive regulatory skills are similar but not identical to the executive func-
tions. The former are skills of higher organization, and they include planning, moni-
toring of understanding, and evaluation. There are a number of investigations that
examined the relationship of meta-cognitive regulatory processes and mathematical
skills (Roebers et al., 2012; Veraksa & Veraksa, 2021). The study of the intercon-
nections of planning, monitoring, and evaluation with mathematical skills and the
primary and middle stages of educational system revealed that the students successful
9 Development of Mathematical Skills of Primary School Children … 153

in mathematics had a higher level of meta-cognitive regulatory functions (Lucan-

geli & Cornoldi, 1997). However, the outcome of the examination of the relationship
of such regulatory functions and mathematical performance is not homogenous. For
example, the results of the multiple regression analysis held by V. I. Morosanova et al.
where mathematical test performance was used as a dependent variable demonstrated
that in school children, among 48 significant predictors of conscious regulation char-
acteristics were not listed (Morosanova et al., 2017). Although the authors of that
study built it based on their own concept of self-regulation, which warns us against
drawing firm conclusions.
Therefore, existing research findings clearly indicate the importance of taking
executive functions into consideration when studying mathematical skills in primary
school children. Further, they suggest that children with different levels of executive
functions may require different educational programs to show greatest benefits for
mathematical learning.
The main goal of the present research is the evaluation of the contribution of the
type of mathematical program to the growth of mathematical skills in 1st graders
depending on their level of executive functions development.

9.4 Methods

9.4.1 Materials

Mathematical skills of the 1st graders were assessed in the beginning and in the
end of the school year. For the assessment, those mathematical skills were selected,
the development of which is given the most attention in the first grade. This is an
understanding of the meaning of writing numbers and the “distances” between them
(directly and using a numeric line), arithmetic skills and measurement skills. See a
detailed description of the assessments below.
1. Writing Numbers in the Base-10 System. This task was used to assess children’s
ability to map discrete quantity onto a corresponding number written in the base-
10 notation and vice versa. The assessment consisted of two parts; each part
included 12 items. In the first part, children were shown a picture depicting a
large collection of blocks: small ones (each representing a single unit) and long
ones divided into 10 equal parts (and thus representing a collection of ten single
units). Children were then presented with a written double-digit number and
asked to circle the number of blocks corresponding to that number. In the second
part, children were shown a picture with a pre-determined collection of blocks
and asked to write the number corresponding to the depicted quantity. In half the
items within each part, the ten-blocks were presented to the left of the one-blocks
and in the other half the order was reversed. Children were given two minutes
to complete each part. They received 1 point for every successfully completed
154 D. Bukhalenkova et al.

item. The maximum number of points that could be earned in this assessment
was 24 (12 points per part).
2. Arithmetic Skills. This task was used to assess children’s ability to add/subtract
single- and double-digit numbers. The assessment included three parts. The
first part consisted of 48 addition and subtraction problems with single-digit
numbers. The second part consisted of 32 addition and subtraction with double-
digit numbers (about half the items crossed the decade and the other half did
not). Whereas in the first two parts, children had to find the sum or difference
between numbers, the third part consisted of 48 addition and subtraction prob-
lems (single-digit numbers), where the sum or difference was known and children
had to determine the missing component (e.g., a missing addend or minuend).
Children were given two minutes to complete each part. One point was given for
every correctly solved problem. The proportion of successfully solved problems
was calculated separately for each part, relative to the total number of problems
in that part.
3. Comparing Numbers. This task was used to assess children’s ability to compare
numerical magnitude and distances between numbers. Each item included three
numbers (a triad) that were depicted within an oval frame; a target number was
printed at the top of the oval and the two answer choices were printed at the
bottom. The child’s task was to cross out the number at the bottom that was
closest in magnitude to the target number. The assessment included three parts;
each part included 12 items. In the first part, the triads consisted of single-digit
numbers (e.g., target: 5, choices 2 and 7) and double-digit numbers (e.g., target:
42, choices: 34 and 71). The second part consisted of 12 simple items with larger
distances between numbers, making it easier to make a judgment and the third
part consisted of 12 complex items tasks with shorter distances between numbers.
Children were given 2 min to complete the whole task. Children received 1 point
for every successfully completed item. The maximum number of points that
could be earned in this assessment was 36 (12 points per part).
4. Measurement. This task was used to evaluate children’s ability to measure
objects with a given unit of measurement. This assessment consisted of eight
items where the respondents were asked to find the area of a rectangle by using
a depicted measurement unit. The rectangles were drawn on graph paper. There
were four pairs of items that differed both in the size of the target rectangle and
the measurement unit. Within each pair, one item depicted a rectangle with a
grid present (which can aid in determining area) and the other item depicted a
rectangle without a visible grid. For each item, participants were asked to write
the number of units that comprised the area of a given rectangle. Children were
given 2 min to complete the task. They received 1 point for each successfully
completed item. The maximum number of points that could be earned was 8.
5. Number Line. This task was used to evaluate children’s ability to estimate numer-
ical magnitude by placing a given number on a number line. The assessment
consisted of 8 items, which differed in several ways: the size of a single unit
marked on the number line, the direction (with the zero point being on the left or
the right end of the number line), and the presence/absence of other numbers on
9 Development of Mathematical Skills of Primary School Children … 155

the line. Children were asked to mark the required number on the line. Children
were given 2 min to complete the task. They received 1 point for each success-
fully completed item. The maximum number of points that could be earned was
8.
Executive functions were assessed with a toolkit that included tasks measuring
visual and verbal working memory, inhibition and cognitive flexibility.
(a) Visual working memory was assessed using the NEPSY-II «Memory for
Designs» subtest (Korkman et al., 2007). Each child was presented with a field
with cards for 10 s. Afterward, the field with the cards was replaced with an
empty one, and the respondent was supposed to pick the right cards from the
available set (which included distractors) and put them in the same positions they
were on the sample field. The task included 4 trials, with the number of target
cards increasing across trials from 6 to 10. On each trial, children received points
both for the accuracy of content (choosing the correct cards) and spatial (placing
the selected card in the correct location). Bonus points were given if the correct
card was placed on the right place. Total score for this task was obtained by
adding all the points; the maximum number of points that could be earned was
150.
(b) Inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility were assessed using the NEPSY-II
Inhibition subtest (Korkman et al., 2007). This assessment included a series
of 6 tasks. Two of them required naming figures and directions of arrows as
presented on the stimulus sheet, while the other two required doing the opposite
(e.g., if an arrow is pointing up, the child is supposed to say it is pointing down).
The last two tasks focused on the switching between naming figures/directions
either correctly or in the opposite way, depending on the color (e.g., if a white
arrow points up, the child is supposed to say it points down, but if a black
arrow points down, the child is supposed to state that correctly). The response
time and the number of errors, either self-corrected or not self-corrected by the
child, was recorded. Complex total scores for naming (based on the first two
tasks), cognitive inhibitory control (based on the next two tasks), and cognitive
flexibility (based on the last two tasks) were calculated; with the maximum
number of points being 19.
(c) Verbal working memory was assessed using the Wechsler’s Digit Span task
(Veksler, 2003). It consists of increasing spans of digits that are to be repeated,
both in the direct and reverse order. The experimenter read the digits at a steady
pace and the child was supposed to reproduce it. Depending on the size of the
number set, a respondent could obtain 2–9 points. The total score for the verbal
working memory task was calculated by adding the points across trials. Separate
scores were computed for direct- and reverse-order repetitions.
156 D. Bukhalenkova et al.

9.4.2 Sample

The sample consisted of 179 1st grade students from Moscow public schools (53.6%
boys), of whom 81 (45.3%) children followed a CHAT-based program, and 98
(54.7%) children followed a traditional program. The evaluation of the students’
distribution by gender between the two programs did not show significant differences
(Chi square = 1.15, р = 0.284).

9.4.3 Procedure

The study took place during the school year in 2020–2021 and included three stages.
In the beginning of the school year (October 2020), the students were tested to assess
the initial level of mathematical skills. At the end of the school year (April–May
2021), the same assessments were conducted to determine the growth of mathemat-
ical skills over the course of the school year. All assessments were administered in
a group format (to the whole class). Assessment sessions lasted 40–45 min, which
is the length of a standard lesson. Following the second group assessment of math
skills (at the end of school year), individual sessions were conducted to evaluate
executive functions of the study participants. The assessment of executive functions
was carried out in one meeting lasting 35–40 minutes in a quiet separate room of the
school where first-graders studied, by specially trained testers.

9.5 Results

The results were evaluated for the individual and joint contribution of the two key
factors—the level of executive functions and the type of the educational program–on
the dynamics of mathematical development in primary school children.

9.5.1 Assessment of the Relationship Between Executive

Functions and the Dynamics of Mathematical Skills
Development in Primary School Children

The sample was divided into 3 groups (k-means cluster analysis) with low (N = 44),
medium (N = 50), and high (N = 54) level of executive functions development. These
groups differed significantly by all the parameters except verbal working memory
(Kruskal–Wallis H test).
Our evaluation of the students’ distribution among programs depending on their
level of executive functions development didn’t reveal any significant differences
9 Development of Mathematical Skills of Primary School Children … 157

between the subsamples (Chi square = 2.62, р = 0.269). The analysis of differences
(Mann–Whitney U test for independent samples) confirmed the absence of a signifi-
cant relationship between educational programs and the level of executive functions
under the current study as of the end of the school year (p > 0.05).
To assess the overall contribution of the executive functions to the formation of
children’s mathematical skills, Welch’s one-way ANOVA was performed. It revealed
that the students with different level of executive functions demonstrated signifi-
cant differences in their ability to write numbers in Base-10 system (р = 0.047)
and perform measurement task (р = 0.002). For example, the children with low
and medium level of executive functions demonstrated weaker dynamics in perfor-
mance in writing numbers than the students with a high level of executive func-
tions (Games—Howell). As for the measurement task, the most noticeable dynamics
in the performance were demonstrated by the students with high and medium level
of executive functions compared to the participants with low level.
The contribution of individual parameters of executive functions to the dynamics
of 1st graders’ mathematical skill development was assessed by running several
multiple regression models. In these models, executive functions acted as predic-
tors and mathematical skills served as dependent variables (Durbin-Watson test ∈
[1.5; 2.5]). It was revealed that the better visual working memory of the 1st graders
was, the more their performance in writing numbers in Base-10 number system
improved (predictor’s contribution = 8.4%). The improvement in the measurement
was also greater in children with higher levels of visual working memory (predictor’s
contribution = 8.8%).

9.5.2 Assessment of the Relationship of Educational

Programs in Mathematics and the Dynamics
of Mathematical Skill Development in the First Grade

The sample was divided in two groups: the participants who studied under CHAT-
based program (N = 81) and those who followed the traditional one (N = 98). The
development of mathematical skills across the two groups was compared using the
Mann–Whitney U test. It revealed that the students receiving a CHAT-based program
showed a trend for better performance, compared to those receiving a traditional
program, in the development of three mathematical skills: writing numbers in Base-
10 number system (р = 0.070), addition and subtraction of double-digit numbers (р
= 0.074), and operations with a number line (р = 0.071).
158 D. Bukhalenkova et al.

9.5.3 Assessment of the Joint Contribution of Educational

Programs and the Level of Executive Functions
on the Dynamics of Mathematical Skill Development
in Primary School Children

In order to evaluate the joint contribution of the factors of the program and execu-
tive functions on the development of mathematical skills, a number of general linear
models were built (ANOVA). No such contribution was registered. In fact, chil-
dren with different level of executive functions from CHAT-based and traditional
programs master mathematical skills equally. The above-mentioned factors make a
more noticeable contribution separately.
In addition, we decided to examine the relationship of the level of executive
functions and the level of development of mathematical skills of children studying
under each type of program.
The following correlations were discovered (Spearman’s ρ test, p < 0.05) for the
1st graders studying under a traditional program:
• The ability to write numbers in Base-10 system was better developed in those
children whose visual working memory was better than their peers,
• The development of the ability to add/subtract single-digit numbers was better in
children with higher level of cognitive flexibility,
• The ability to compare double-digit numbers was better developed in children
whose mental processing speed was lower,
• The measuring abilities were better in 1st graders whose working memory was
more developed and mental processing speed were higher.
Only two significant correlation (Spearman’s ρ test, p < 0.05) was revealed for
the 1st graders studying under CHAT-based programs:
• The ability to add/subtract single-digit and double-digit numbers developed faster
in children whose mental processing speed was higher,
• The ability to operate a number line was better developed in children with lower
level of cognitive flexibility.
The executive functions components produced more correlations, and in this
regard, perhaps they are more important for the students studying under traditional
program than those following a CHAT-based one.

9.6 Discussion

This paper describes the study of the influence of two factors on the dynamics of
mathematical skill development in 1st graders. The factors are: (1) the level of exec-
utive function development and (2) the educational program the children followed.
The obtained results revealed that the higher the level of executive functions, the
9 Development of Mathematical Skills of Primary School Children … 159

better the dynamics of development of mathematical skills such as writing numbers

in Base-10 number system and measurement. This data coincides with the outcome
of other research works (Bull & Lee, 2014; Bull & Scerif, 2001; Lan et al., 2011;
Lubin et al., 2013; Passolunghi & Cornoldi, 2008). However, our study didn’t reveal
any correlation between the general level of executive functions and the dynamics
of development of mathematical skills such as arithmetic operations, working with
a number line, or comparing numbers. Yet, interestingly, the number of correla-
tions involving the components of executive functions turned out to be related to the
type of educational program the children followed. For CHAT-based program, there
were fewer connections. Only the mental processing speed and cognitive flexibility
were connected to a more successful mastery of mathematical skills. Additionally,
the lower the cognitive flexibility was, the better the ability to work with a number
line was developed. This phenomenon is not easy to explain (it might be a research
artifact). In case of traditional programs, apart from the mental processing speed
and the cognitive flexibility, it was visual working memory that contributed to the
development of mathematical skills. This could be explained that traditional teaching
model relies on children’s abilities (including self-regulation) and their initial level
to a larger extent than CHAT-based programs. The latter are focused on the zone of
proximal development and appeals to the functions that are not yet developed but
are in the process of formation and maturation (Tsukerman, 2010; Vygotsky, 1956).
On the other hand, our study revealed that CHAT-programs only show a tendency
to higher dynamics of mathematical skill development. Nevertheless, more such skills
are affected than in the case of a traditional program. These programs include writing
numbers in Base-10 number system, addition/subtraction of double-digit numbers,
and finding the correct position of a number on a number line. It is possible that only a
mere tendency was registered because our assessments (level of mathematical skills
development in the beginning and end of the year) only took place in the first grade,
and only five months had passed between the two assessment periods. A longitudinal
study could provide a more precise answer to this question.
In our evaluation of the joint contribution of executive functions and educational
program, it was discovered that the 1st graders with different level of development
of executive functions studying under different programs master mathematical skills
equally. Thus, it is not valid to assume that one program is more suitable for children
with a certain level of executive functions development. Independently of executive
function development, and of the program, children advance at their own pace. This
fact could be of high practical importance. Perhaps, educators should not focus
so much on the selection of children for a particular program based on their self-
regulation level, but shift to the selection of more efficient programs and the quality
of their implementation.
The results of this study can be interpreted from two perspectives. Well-known
works by L. S. Vygotsky dedicated to the analysis of the relationship of learning and
development (Vygotsky, 2004; Elkonin, 1966) emphasize an approach suggested
by J. Piaget. According to Piaget, educational programs should be adjusted to the
child’s level of development. In this regard, we should note that nowadays, it is
common to choose an educational program in mathematics to match the child’s
160 D. Bukhalenkova et al.

executive functions level, as more advanced and complex programs require better
executive functions. The present study did not reveal any correlation between the
level of cognitive regulation in children and their performance in different programs.
There were no significant differences in the learning dynamics. On the other hand,
Vygotsky believed that educational programs should be built in such a way that
learning entails development. This can only happen in the case of modification of
learning content, i.e., the concepts and the problems students are to master and solve.
In our study, the role of content did not manifest as we expected which can possibly
be explained by the short period our participants spent at school. Validation of this
assumption will become the goal of future research.

9.7 Conclusion

This study revealed that the higher the level of executive functions was, the better
first-grade children’s performance in mathematics was. However, depending on the
educational program, the contribution of executive functions might differ. The indi-
vidual components of executive functions demonstrated more correlations with the
mathematical skill development in children studying under a traditional program
than in those following a CHAT-based program. The comparison of efficiency of
the programs brought ambiguous results. Still, there are certain grounds to consider
CHAT-based program as more efficient. The obtained data raised the important ques-
tion of the relationship of learning and development. Should we understand the child’s
level of development as the main factor of learning efficiency? Or should the content
of educational programs be modified so that leaning would “indeed lead the way for
development”?

References

Aleksandrova, E. I. (2011). Matematika [Mathematics]. In A. B. Vorontsov (Ed.), Sbornik

primernykh programm dlya nachal’noi obshcheobrazovatel’noi shkoly [A collection of sample
programs for an elementary comprehensive school] (pp. 290–328). Vita-press. (in Russian).
Belyaeva, M. D. (2018). Formirovanie samoregulyatsii u mladshikh shkolnikov v uchebnoy
deyatelnosti. In Psikhologiya, pedagogika, obrazovanie: aktualnye i prioritetnye napravleniya
issledovaniy: sbornik statey Mezhdunarodnoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii. Orenburg:
Obshchestvo s ogranichennoy otvetstvennostyu “OMYEGASAYNS” (pp. 16–18). (in Russian)
Best, J. R., Miller, P. H., & Naglieri, J. A. (2011). Relations between executive function and academic
achievement from ages 5 to 17 in a large, representative national sample. Learning and Individual
Differences, 21(4), 327–336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2011.01.007
Bull R., Espy K. A., & Wiebe S. A. (2008). Short-term memory, working memory, and executive
functioning in preschoolers: Longitudinal predictors of mathematical achievement at age 7 years.
Developmental Neuropsychology, 33, 205–228.
Bull, R., & Lee, K. (2014). Executive functioning and mathematics achievement. Child Development
Perspectives, 8, 36–41.
9 Development of Mathematical Skills of Primary School Children … 161

Bull, R., & Scerif, G. (2001). Executive function as a predictor of children’s mathematics ability:
Inhibition, switching, and working memory. Developmental Neuropsychology, 19, 273–293.
Clements, D. H., Sarama, J., & Germeroth, C. (2016). Learning executive function and early math-
ematics: Directions of causal relations. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 36, 79–90. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.12.009
Davydov, V. V. (1974). Analiz didakticheskikh printsipov traditsionnoy shkoly i vozmozhnye
printsipy obucheniya blizhayshego budushchego. In Psikhologicheskie osobennosti vypusknikov
sredney shkoly i uchashchikhsya professionalno-tekhnicheskikh uchilishch (pp. 3—14). (in
Russian)
Davydov, V. V. (2000). Vidy obobshcheniya v obuchenii. (in Russian)
Davydov, V. V. (1966). Psikhologicheskie osobennosti dochislovogo perioda obucheniia matem-
atike [Psychological features of the pre-number period of teaching mathematics]. In D. B.
Elkonin & V. V. Davydov (Eds.), Vozrastnye vozmozhnosti usvoeniia znani [Age-related learning
opportunities] (pp. 104–189). (In Russian)
Deary, I. J., Der, G., & Ford, G. (2001). Reaction times and intelligence differences a population-
based cohort study. Intelligence, 29, 389–399.
Diamond, A. (2013). Executive functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135–168. https://doi.
org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143750
Duncan, G., Dowsett, C., Claessens, A., Magnuson, K., Huston, A., Klebanov, P., & Japel, C. (2007).
School readiness and later achievement. Developmental Psychology, 43(6), 1428–1446. https://
doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.43.6.1428
Duval, S., Bouchard, С., Page, P., Hamel, & Duval, C., et al. (2016). Quality of classroom interactions
in kindergarten and executive functions among five-year-old children. Cogent Education, 3,
79—96. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2016.1207909
Elhusseini, S. A., Tischner, C. M., Aspiranti, K. B., et al. (2022). A quantitative review of the
effects of self-regulation interventions on primary and secondary student academic achievement.
Metacognition Learning, 17, 1117–1139. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-022-09311-0
Elkonin, D. B. (1966). Intellektualnye vozmozhnosti mladshikh shkolnikov i soderzhanie
obucheniya. In Vozrastnye vozmozhnosti usvoeniya znaniy. (in Russian)
Espy, K., McDiarmid, M., Cwik, M., Stalets, M., Hamby, A., & Senn, T. (2004). The contribution
of executive functions to emergent mathematic skills in preschool children. Developmental
Neuropsychology., 26, 465–486. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326942dn2601_6
García, T., Rodríguez, C., González-Castro, P., et al. (2016). Elementary students’ metacog-
nitive processes and post-performance calibration on mathematical problem-solving tasks.
Metacognition Learning, 11, 139–170. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-015-9139-1
Gordeeva, T. O. (2020). Cognitive and educational effects of the Elkonin—Davydov system of
developmental education: Opportunities and limitations. Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya
= Cultural-Historical Psychology, 16(4), 14–25. https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2020160402. (in
Russian, abstracts in English)
Gordeeva, T. O., Sychev, O. A., Pshenichnuk, D. V., & Sidneva, A. N. (2018). Academic motiva-
tion of elementary school children in two educational approaches—Innovative and traditional.
Psychology in Russia: State of the Art, 11(4), 19–36.
Halberda, J., Mazzocco, M. M. М, & Feigenson, L. (2008). Individual differences in nonverbal
estimation ability predict maths achievement. Nature, 455, 665–668.
Hattie, J. (2008). Visible learning. a synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement.
Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203887332
Jarvis, H. L., & Gathercole, S. E. (2003). Verbal and non-verbal working memory and achievements
on national curriculum tests at 11 and 14 years of age. Educational and Child Psychology, 20(3),
123–140.
Korkman, M., Kirk, U., & Kemp, S. L. (2007). NEPSY II. Administrative manual (p. 228).
Psychological Corporation.
Krutetskiy, V. A. (1998). Psikhologiya matematicheskikh sposobnostey shkolnikov. Institut prak-
ticheskoy psikhologii, MODEK. (in Russian).
162 D. Bukhalenkova et al.

Kyttala, M., Aunio, P., Lehto, J. E., Van Luit, J., & Hautamaki, J. (2003). Visual-spatial working
memory and early numeracy. Educational and Child Psychology, 20, 65–76.
Lan, X., Legare, C. H., Ponitz, C. C., Li, S., & Morrison, F. J. (2011). Investigating the links
between the subcomponents of executive function and academic achievement: A cross-cultural
analysis of Chinese and American preschoolers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,
108, 677–692.
Lubin, A., Vidal, J., Lanoe, C., Houde, O., & Borst, G. (2013). Inhibitory control is needed for the
resolution of arithmetic word problems: A developmental negative priming study. Journal of
Educational Psychology, 105, 701–708. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032625
Lucangeli, D., & Cornoldi, C. (1997). Mathematics and metacognition: What is the nature of the
relationship? Mathematical Cognition, 3, 121–139.
Mathematics Syllabus. (2013). Primary 1 to 6. Ministry of Education. https://www.moe.gov.sg/-/
media/files/primary/mathematics_syllabus_primary_1_to_6.pdf
Mazzocco, M. M. M., Feigenson, L., & Halberda, J. (2011). Preschoolers’ precision of the approxi-
mate number system predicts later school mathematics performance. PLoS ONE, 6(9), e23749.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0023749
Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. (2000).
The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “frontal lobe”
tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41, 49–100. https://doi.org/10.1006/
cogp.1999.0734
Morosanova, V. I., Fomina, T. G., & Tsyganov, I. Y. (2017). Osoznannaya samoregulyatsiya i
otnoshenie k ucheniyu v dostizhenii uchebnykh tseley. Nestor-Istoriya. (in Russian)
Nunes, T., Bryant, P., Barros, R., & Sylva, K. (2012). The relative importance of two different
mathematical abilities to mathematical achievement. British Journal of Educational Psychology,
82, 136–156. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8279.2011.02033.x
Passolunghi, M. C., & Cornoldi, C. (2008). Working memory failures in children with arithmetical
difficulties. Child Neuropsychology, 14, 387–400.
Pavlova, V. V. (2008). Sravnitelnyy analiz innovatsionnykh tekhnologiy obucheniya s pozitsiy
deyatelnostnogo podkhoda. Diss. kand. psikhol. nauk. (in Russian)
Primary School Curricula on Reading and Mathematics in Developing Countries. UNESCO Insti-
tute for Statistics (2012). https://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/primary-school-
curricula-on-reading-and-mathematics-in-developing-countries-en_1.pdf
Repkina, N. V. (1997). Sistema razvivayushchego obucheniya v shkolnoy praktike. Voprosy
Psikhologii, 3, 40–51. (in Russian).
Roebers, C. M., Cimeli, P., Röthlisberger, M., et al. (2012). Executive functioning, metacognition,
and self-perceived competence in elementary school children: An explorative study on their
interrelations and their role for school achievement. Metacognition Learning, 7, 151–173. https://
doi.org/10.1007/s11409-012-9089-9
Rosas, Y., Solovieva, Y., & Quintanar, L. (2017). La formación del concepto de número: aplicación
de la metódica en una institución mexicana. In N. Talizina, Y. Solovieva, & L. Quintanar (Eds.),
Enseñanza matemáticas desde la teoría de la actividad (107–128). CEIDE.
Rosas, Y., Solovieva, Y., & Quintanar, L. (2019). Solución de problemas en sesiones de matemáticas:
enfoque desde la teoría de la actividad. In R. Valdés & S. Amaral (Eds.), Teoría da atividade de
estudo. Livro II, Contribuições de pesquisadores brasileiros e estrangeiros (297–318). Biblioteca
Psicopedagógica Didática.
Semmes, R., Davison, M. L., & Close, C. (2011). Modeling individual differences in numerical
reasoning speed as a random effect of response time limits. Applied Psychological Measurement,
35(6), 433–446.
Sidneva, A. N., Aslanova, M. S., & Bukhalenkova, D. A. (2022). Osobennosti razvitiya matematich-
eskikh umeniy pervoklassnikov, obuchayushchikhsya po raznym obrazovatelnym programmam.
Vestnik MGU. Seriya 14. Psikhologiya, 3, 119–144. (in Russian).
Solovieva, Y., Rosas, Y., & Quintanar, L. (2016). Problem solution as guided activity with Mexican
school children. Psychology in Russia: State of Art, 9(3), 57–75.
9 Development of Mathematical Skills of Primary School Children … 163

Solovieva, Y., & Quintanar, L. (2022). Propuesta innovadora para preparar a niños preescolares
para la enseñanza de las matemáticas. En: Victoriano Salvatori, Teresita del Niño, Jesus Carillo,
María Luisa Urrea, Avel Grijalba. Formas incluyentes para atender y hacer ciencia (Vol. 2,
115–179). CONCYTEP.
Sternberg, R. J., Grigorenko, E. L., & Bundy, D. A. (2001). The predictive value of IQ. Merrill-
Palmer Quarterly, 47(1), 1–41.
Swanson, H., & Jerman, O. (2006). Math disabilities: A selective meta-analysis of the literature.
Review of Educational Research, 76, 249–274.
Swanson, H. L., & Sachse-Lee, C. (2001). Mathematical problem solving and working memory in
children with learning disabilities: Both executive and phonological processes are important.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 3, 294–321. https://doi.org/10.1006/jecp.2000.2587
Tikhomirova, T., Kuzmina, Y., Lysenkova, I. & Malykh, S. (2019). The relationship between
non-symbolic and symbolic numerosity representations in elementary school: The role of
intelligence. Frontiers in Psychology.
Tsukerman, G. A. (2010). Obuchenie vedet za soboy razvitie. Kuda? Voprosy obrazovaniya, 42–89.
(in Russian)
Tsukerman, G. A., & Yermakova, I. V. (2003). Razvivayushchie effekty sistemy D. B. Elkonina–V.
V. Davydova. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie, 8(4), 56–73. (in Russian)
Veksler, D. (2003). Shkala intellekta Vekslera dlya detey. Rukovodstvo. Chelyabinsk. (in Russian)
Veraksa, A. N., Aslanova, M. S., Bukhalenkova, D. A., Veraksa, N. Y., & Lyutsko, L. N. (2020).
Assessing the effectiveness of differentiated instructional approaches for teaching math to
preschoolers with different levels of executive functions. Education Science, 10(7), 181. (in
Russian).
Veraksa, A. N., & Veraksa, N. Y. (2021). Vzaimosvyaz metapoznaniya i regulyatornykh funk-
tsiy v detstve: kulturno-istoricheskiy kontekst. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 14:
Psikhologiya, 1, 79–113. (in Russian). https://doi.org/10.11621/vsp.2021.01.04
Veraksa, A. N., Bukhalenkova, D. A., Vasylieva, M. D., & Aslanova, M. S. (2022). Executive
functioning and mathematical skills development: From preschool to school. Early Childhood
Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical Focus. Springer.
Vygotskiy, L. S. (2004). Psikhologiya razvitiya rebenka. (in Russian)
Vygotsky, L. S. (1956). Izbrannye psikhologicheskie issledovaniya. (in Russian).
Watts, T., Duncan, G., Clements, D., & Sarama, J. (2018). What is the long-run impact of learning
mathematics during preschool? Child Development, 89(2), 539–555. https://doi.org/10.1111/
cdev.12713
Zárraga, S., Solovieva, Y., & Quintanar, L. (2017). Formación de las habilidades matemáticas básicas
en preescolares mayores. In N. Talizina, Y. Solovieva, & L. Quintanar (Eds.), Enseñanza de las
matemáticas desde la teoría de la actividad (69–86). CEIDE.
Chapter 10
Scaffolding Multiplicative Concepts
Formation: A Way of Digital Support

Elena Vysotskaya, Maria Yanishevskaya, Anastasia Lobanova,

and Marat Taysin

Abstract The balance scale problem is a widely known material for studies on the
development of thinking. It is hard for students to master the multiplicative concept
of equilibrium, even though the general idea “the further from the fulcrum – the
heavier” is commonplace and students are often provided with real or digital simula-
tions of the lever – so they could explore it as much, as they need. The psychological
researches since Piaget regard the concepts, based on logical multiplication (i.e. the
consideration of the changes of two parameters) as those, which demand acquisi-
tion of special intellectual operations by students. As we examine the early stages
of multiplicative concepts’ formation within the activity approach framework, we
include special modelling means to support students’ own inquiry in order to promote
their actions to the conceptual level of orientation in the coordination of two magni-
tudes’ changes. Thus, students’ manipulations with weights – adding, moving and
removing – become mediated by the specially organised additional work: the evalu-
ation of the contribution of each weight unit to the total load on each side of the lever.
Within this approach, students are able to start from the trickiest tasks with several
weights located in different positions (which were considered to be exceedingly
difficult since Siegler’s studies) and the concept is acquired from their own actions
mediated with this “additional” modelling. The digital support design, thus, has to
serve several purposes, among which most important is to scaffold problematization,
modelling and distribution of operations among partners. Though many modern lever
simulations provide students with functionality enough to test different combinations
of weight units, they do not provide the educational designers with enough ways to
challenge and test students’ modelling. The educational module on the concept of
balance, which we have designed based on the principles of the learning activity
theory, shows, that a significant number of functions has to be added to the computer
simulation of the lever to support the tasks modifications, which will make students
rely on modelling.

E. Vysotskaya · M. Yanishevskaya · A. Lobanova (B)

Federal Scientific Center for Psychological and Interdisciplinary Research, Moscow, Russia
e-mail: andelobanova@yandex.ru
M. Taysin
Public School 2101, Moscow, Russia

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 165
A. Veraksa and Y. Solovieva (eds.), Learning Mathematics by Cultural-Historical
Theory Implementation, Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical
Focus 7, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66894-4_10
166 E. Vysotskaya et al.

10.1 Introduction

We address the problem of concept formation within the cultural-historical and

activity approach framework, which considers concepts in their relation to actions
responsible for concept emergence and concept functioning. Since Vygotsky (1986),
the “scientific” (school) concepts formation, as opposed to the acquisition of “every-
day” concepts, has been a challenge. Galperin and Leontiev made further steps on
the way, that Vygotsky has outlined, and connected the acquisition of new concepts
to the new actions, which are to be mastered by students in situations which they
had never confronted in their everyday life. These tasks demand to act conceptually
(Leontiev, 1978), as opposed to “natural” behaviour patterns, prompted by situations’
vivid characteristics and “common sense” notions. According to Galperin (1989),
the ability of students to perform their own actions according to the concept allows
them to overcome vivid prompts, thus, such tasks are critical for the assessment of
concept formation. He described the role of special “orientative” actions in concept
formation and the role of concepts in the development of these actions as orientative
(Davydov et al., 1983; Engeness, 2021; Galperin, 2007; Galperin & Talyzina, 1957;
Talyzina, 1968).
These actions are defined as “matter”-oriented (Davydov, 1990), which means,
that one has to operate the matter, the objects, according to the concept. At the
same time, Davydov’s idea was to introduce students to the special concepts’ origins
within human cultural history through these actions: “In the process of mastering, the
content of these forms of social consciousness as a product of the organised thinking
of many generations of people (more precisely, of their theoretical thinking), there
emerges in the child a relation to reality that is linked to his development of theoretical
consciousness and thinking…” (Davydov, 2008, p. 57).
According to Davydov’s theory and the cultural-historical approach in general,
learning activity is referring to concepts while reconstructing the contexts of their
origins. “…The content of learning activity is theoretical knowledge…This hypoth-
esis as to the content and sense of learning activity is based on a special study of
the history of public education together with its current trends” (ibid., p. 115). The
appropriate unit for educational design here is the learning task, wherein “the school
children first master a general method for solving particular tasks” (ibid., p. 124).
As well as other researchers following Davydov’s approach (Aidarova, 1978;
Coles, 2021; Repkin, 2003; Rubtsov et al., 2021; Zuckerman, 2020; etc.), we find it
productive and prospective and our studies, including current one, are being made
within this framework. The developmental instruction approach demands that we
analyse the concept’s emergence and evolution within meaningful cultural activity
and reconstruct the situation of the concept origin in students’ own actions aiming
to provide the essential modelling (orientation) means of actions alongside with
the main meanings, twists and intrigue of the matter, which are essential from the
psychological point of view.
To examine the mechanisms behind concept formation, we design the exact way
for the desired concept’s acquisition (the sequence of actions, their content, material,
10 Scaffolding Multiplicative Concepts Formation: A Way of Digital Support 167

means, etc.) and conduct an experimental teaching series to see whether the designed
formation procedure will provide our participants with the concept, which will work
as planned, – according to Vygotsky’s “experimental-genetical method” Galperin’s
formation procedure (Liders & Frolov, 1996).
The challenges and benefits of digitalisation are considered within the learning
activity framework (Talyzina, 1989). Implementing activity approach ideas to
computer support design demands logical and psychological analysis of the task
domain under consideration. The initial relation of objects, which is at the core of
concept formation, is thus revealed and presented in the set of learning tasks and in
specially organised interactions in the learning activities.
The question to be answered is: “What functions of support towards students’ own
actions may be transferred to the computer, given that the computer’s part has to be
meaningful, rather than formal, and beneficial in terms of resulting concept-mediated
thinking?”.

10.2 Multiplicative Concepts Formation

The concepts based on logical multiplication (Inhelder & Piaget, 1958)

involve changes of two independent parameters, which have to be considered simul-
taneously, as their coordination matters. There is a great number of tasks, which imply
“multiplication” in this sense: for example, including objects to some sets and subsets
by their characteristics, comparing the amount of liquid in two vessels of different
height and width, comparing areas of different shapes, etc. Among these tasks, the
most outstanding for many reasons is the balance problem: it is most naturally set, it
refers to everyday experience, it deals with parameters of different measures, it has
many task variations, it is interesting, the result is vivid, etc. The balance problem was
hence one of the most popular “sample” problems for psychological investigation
since Piaget.
It has less analogues in other contexts, which could address students to the pure
“multiplicative” concept either for diagnostical purposes or in order to teach students
proportional reasoning in case of an inverse ratio. Simple tasks, like inverse relations
between a vessel’s height and width, or the lengths of rectangular sides, are mastered
by primary and secondary school students. Yet, some balance problem tasks remain
difficult even for high schoolers.
Following Siegler’s studies on the psychology of these concepts formation within
the balance problem context (Siegler, 1976, 1978), there have been many researches,
which had discussed in detail the strategies and rules, which students (since kinder-
garten till adults) come up with, as they try to predict, which side of the lever will
overweigh the other (Boom et al., 2001; Filion & Sirois, 2021; Hofman et al., 2015;
Jansen & van der Maas, 2002; Li et al., 2017; Martin & Rubtsov, 1991; Siegler &
Chen, 1998). Students experience well-known difficulties, when two magnitudes
weight and distance are obviously working against each other to make the other side
“heavier” (as on Fig. 10.1а). Mastering and applying these strategies may help to
168 E. Vysotskaya et al.

Fig. 10.1 Critical tasks: “What side overweighs the other?” a) “conflict” between weight and
distance; b) “scattered-weights” task

predict, which side will go down in simple cases, yet other tasks, involving, e.g.
“scattered” weights (weights in several locations on the lever-Fig. 10.1b) will still
be unsolvable for students of all ages (Siegler, 1978).
These tasks are critical as they challenge students’ comprehension of the matter.
Most students grasp the idea that besides the amount of weight units their position
should be taken into account (units closer to the edge are “heavier” than those closer
to the centre), yet no one can invent the “balance law” himself. Thus, an obvious way
to deliver the balance rule is (1) to present the balance problem to students in order
to make them interested, (2) allow them to work with the lever in order for them to
grasp the general ideas: “weight and distance matter”, “the farther – the heavier” and
(3) finally, as students fail to discover the exact way to coordinate the parameters,
their teacher delivers them the formula: the equivalence of multiplied weights and
distances, which stands behind the equilibrium.
Eventually, the computer support may play its part as the motivator and the simu-
lator. The lever can be presented on the screen and provide “users” with opportunity
to attach weight units or objects of different masses to different locations along both
sides of the lever and to observe the resulting balance state. The computer simu-
lation is better than the actual lever, as it is precise and is not subject to real-life
inconveniences of use. Its major role is to replace the complicated real-life objects
with their model, where the magnitudes and their relations stand out more vividly:
weight is presented with weight units, distances are marked with steps. Currently
there are several software products, which provide the tasks based on the simulation
as described and studies, which use digital support for the balance beam problem
(Hofman et al., 2015; Tahai et al., 2019; Van der Graaf, 2020).
The design of computer software support inevitably relies on the authors’ compre-
hension of the psychological mechanisms behind students’ acquisition of concepts,
the multiplicative concepts in particular. The majority of computer simulations
are aimed to lead students to formulation of “rules” and “strategies” and scaffold
students’ promotion through practical trials and feedback, while they learn to choose
and apply the strategies, which they had retrieved from their own experience, in each
subsequent task with increasing difficulty level (Hofman et al., 2015). In particular,
the similar “trial-feedback” approach was also used to teach computer (AI) to solve
balance scale tasks (Sage & Langley, 1983). In Tahai et al. (2019), the additional
functions of computer support were to monitor students’ success and concentration
level and adapt the difficulty of each subsequent balance problem task in order to
10 Scaffolding Multiplicative Concepts Formation: A Way of Digital Support 169

keep students “in the state of flow” during the whole “Scalebridge” educational game
designed to teach proportional reasoning.
To our mind, the deficits in students’ comprehension are rooted in the very content
of students’ actions while they are being taught. In this respect, we may as well rely
on the studies mentioned above, as all of them vividly demonstrate the limitations of
students’ own possibilities to retrieve the balance law from their own manipulative
experience with the lever (real or digital): the exact way of coordination between two
parameters cannot be invented by students—especially in “critical” tasks.
The application of a consistent concept often differs significantly from its origins –
and it is the latter that we have to reconstruct for students. The demonstration of the
way the concept of equilibrium is used for solving balance problems nowadays
does not allow students to grasp the orientation procedure behind the “short-cut”
calculation algorithms, which deal with the two parameters directly. Frequent typical
mistakes, which students make, when they try to learn from the reduced and shortened
empirical strategies, show us that the origin of the concept is not there. Those who
can solve any balance problem and use these strategies consciously and adequately
have something to their orientation that is not externalised in the common problem-
solving, but it comes to light, as we try to reconstruct the concept’s origin in students’
actions. Only as we analyse the most critical tasks (the “scattered-weights” situation
in particular) and try to extend the orientation needed, we come to the necessity of
special actions: the evaluation of the third magnitude (the “load”), which is equal,
when the lever is balanced – and thus, stands for the equilibrium itself. These actions
have a purely orientation purpose, as the load cannot be dealt with directly in reality:
we can operate the load only through coordinated changes of weights and distances.
Thus, to solve critical balance problems, students have to evaluate the contribution
of each weight unit to the total load on each side of the lever – be it the current
configuration or the result of students’ possible operations.
Based on this assumption, a special learning module with appropriate computer
support was devised and tested. In this paper, we will focus on some features of
computer support, as our aim is to show that from the stance of Davydov’s theory
and the studies of his followers, the role which a computer may play, becomes larger,
more detailed and benefits the results more, than digitalisation within traditional
didactics. Thus, as we present the way to form the concept of equilibrium, we will
pay special attention to these questions:
What computer support will be adequate for the learning task, which we design?
What computer support will help students rely on the concepts as quintessence of
the cultural ways of handling the matter?
What objects and their characteristics should be emulated through a computer and
what operations with objects are to be made available through computer support?
170 E. Vysotskaya et al.

10.3 The Developmental Computer Support for Balance

Concept Formation

The balance problem allows us to illustrate the collision between two didactic
approaches: “formal” and “meaningful”. There is a “formal” rule and an appro-
priate formula that support simultaneous consideration of two parameters and direct
calculations. However, the rules of balance, being simple to use, set significant limits
on the variety of tasks, which students can solve. On the other hand, “meaningful”
representation of the balance problem through modelling addresses students to the
variety of tasks that are not solved at a glance by simple formulas, and usually prompt
trial-and-error method. These tasks exclude “work-around” ways and require refer-
ring to the “invisible” third magnitude. Students have to divert their attention from
salient magnitudes, that are observed and described through numbers and well-known
formulas, towards their new “meanings” brought by their role within the coherent
view of the task situation in terms of “load”. The appeal to the third magnitude’s
changes allows to anticipate the “theoretical” (conceptual) image of the final result,
towards which the future operations on the weights will be adjusted. Thus, students
are put to use something that cannot be pointed out within the object they are dealing
with: reasoning and inquiry are done with “additional” modelling means, which
do not provide an answer immediately and directly—and that is what conceptual
thinking is about.
The basic learning problem within the developmental instruction framework
(Davydov, 2008) should exploit those tasks, which cannot be solved by students
effortlessly from the start. Unlike traditional didactics, there will be no moving from
simple to complex here, nor there will be any immediate problem-solving through
quick guessing, or trial-and-error method. Students’ “inquiry” on the conditions
of changing and preserving equilibrium starts from testing the lever with compli-
cated weights’ configurations, which are already balanced in an unobvious way. The
general task for students is to find the way to compensate the changes, brought by
“a partner” on one of the lever sides, with their own operations with weights as a
response. Task should make “direct” compensations not possible, as these solutions
are both evident and do not reveal the actual problem of equilibrium. Students have
to find as much ways of regaining balance, as possible, and at the same time pay
special attention to situations, when the changes made by one “player” cannot be
compensated in any way by his partner.
At this point, the computer support has to provide the simulation of the lever
so that students will be able to move or add weights to both sides and to check the
balance. Most simulations, which present the balance scale and the weight units, will
be sufficient enough for setting the general problem: “the naïve suggestions will not
work”.
Students’ actions (moving, adding or taking away weight units) reveal the “relativ-
ity” of the “heavier” and “lighter” notions in their “routine” sense: the real outcomes
do not seem to rely on the weight solely. The unique connection between weights and
their distances deserves the emergence of the special magnitude responsible directly
10 Scaffolding Multiplicative Concepts Formation: A Way of Digital Support 171

for balance. Thus, the learning problem introduces new coordination means, which
allow to evaluate the results of would-be operations with weights—thus both partners
will be able to plan their own “movements” simultaneously, irrespective of the past
operations and their partners’ exact final configuration.
We are to provide the space and instruments for students’ own inquiry, which is
exactly what the learning activity is about, where the functionality of special proce-
dures and modelling means will be discovered and reconstructed to serve successful
problem-solving. A challenging task is needed: the one, which cannot be solved
with “work-around” speculation or “short-cut” techniques. The “scattered-weights”
tasks differ from other tasks significantly, as they cannot be solved with self-devised
strategies and adults are no better than school students in this respect. Only concept-
mediated comprehension of the equilibrium law will help to estimate the balance in
these tasks. Thus, we choose the typical scattered-weights tasks as our main setting:
“Balance three weight units on the left side with two weight units on the right side”
(Fig. 10.2a). Moreover, the intrigue of the learning task, as we have designed it, is
to make the three weights, already attached to different positions on one side of the
lever “by someone”, balanced with another two on the other side (Fig. 10.2b).
The “discrepancy” between “controllable” parameters and “uncontrollable”
outcomes revealed through experiments denies the “absolute” role of weights’
number and position and sets the question about the nature of their connection.
What is “equal” in “equilibrium”? If it is neither weight, nor distance, considered
separately, or some proportions of these standalone magnitudes, then what is it? The
special notion of “load” and the corresponding “load-measures” play the “media-
tion” role: they help to grasp this relationship apart from the particular weights’
configurations through appropriate evaluation procedures in the separate modelling
space (Fig. 10.3).

Fig. 10.2 The setting for the learning problem

Fig. 10.3 The total value of loads on both sides of the lever or the total load do not depend on the
exact configuration of weight units, which create the load. In case of equilibrium the load has to be
equal for both sides
172 E. Vysotskaya et al.

The work within modelling space is directly related to the setting and solving of the
learning problem. Special symbolic means are designed to scaffold students’ orien-
tation: tokens or “coins”, which are used to evaluate the balance directly according
to the position of each weight unit. A certain number of them is to be attributed to
each weight on every side of the lever to assess its contribution to the equilibrium of
the whole lever (see Fig. 10.4). One “coin” is “paid” for every single “step” of the
weight unit from the fulcrum.
The equivalence of the composed loads for both sides of the lever sets the require-
ments for equilibrium and eventually the pattern for solution design in the most
generalised way. The positioning of any number of weights is thus guided by the
required load (Fig. 10.5). The configuration of weights is determined both: in “con-
ceptual” sense by the load, which is collected from the contribution of each weight,
and in the “operational” sense by the particular limitations of a task (the already
attached weights, the available weights’ positions, etc.).
The equilibrium itself thus gains its measure and becomes a magnitude: if the
number of coins for each side is made the same, the lever is balanced. This magnitude
may be named as “load”, and it is a pre-concept for the “torque”. It is an intensive
magnitude and students cannot operate it directly. Only by changing the weights and
their distances can they alter the load. Unlike solving an inverse proportion between
weight and distance, the evaluation of load is an extended procedure, which brings
in front the “third value” behind the establishment of equilibrium, while the latter is
never indicated in simple formulas for the balance law.
The “coins” serve orientation purposes only – they are not objects, which can
be hung on the lever, nor do they tell directly what is to be done with the weights:
adding one coin does not necessarily mean adding one weight, etc. Yet any successful
“moves” performed on the lever by students happen only as students evaluate the
result of their future actions in terms of load, and then select their operations with the
weight units – adjust them to get the needed load. The operations needed to solve the
problem do not coincide with the actions responsible for the orientation itself. At the
same time, the coins perform the “control” functions towards the problem-solving

Fig. 10.4 The introduction

of the special means “coins”
to assess balance directly

Fig. 10.5 The load-tokens

allow to control the load,
which will be created by the
weight units on the right side
10 Scaffolding Multiplicative Concepts Formation: A Way of Digital Support 173

procedure even before the solution is checked with the lever (real or digital one).
However, as our previous researches show (Vysotskaya et al., 2022), students tend
to avoid the application of these essential modelling means – thus, the appropriate
educational module and learning materials should be carefully designed.
This is the key part of the concept formation – the “seemingly” unnecessary
excessive actions of attributing tokens to each weight to evaluate its load, actually
provide for students’ ability to solve most difficult “scattered-weights” tasks on their
first attempt. At the core of the learning task are students’ attempts to coordinate the
changes, which they perform on the balance scales (adding, moving or taking away
weights) and their own work with these symbolic means, which address the load
directly. Only as students overcome the “natural” way of treating the load-tokens as
weight units and adjust their operations with tokens so they would serve as compound
measures of load and predict the equilibrium – only then these symbolic means
gain orientation functions and their actions become concept-mediated. Eventually, a
student learns to “see” the possible changes in load behind each moving and removing
of a weight unit, which he or his partner is performing. Natural objects and operations
are thus seen through “conceptual” lens.
The computer thus has to scaffold these new modelling procedures. If tokens are
displayed within the lever simulation and allow to add and move them freely, then
students can perform load-evaluation on the screen, which especially benefits the
distant-learning process.
Aside from adding special objects (“coins”) to the lever simulation for modelling
purposes, it is far more important for computer support design to scaffold proper
concept formation by creating conditions, which keep the intensity of orientation
throughout the tasks. Before the basic conceptual orientation procedure (the evalua-
tion of load) is interiorised, students are to master it through a series of tasks, modified
in various aspects (Engeness, 2021; Galperin, 2007). These modifications are aimed
to prevent students from “cutting” the orientation procedure short and skipping some
steps, or referring to some “work-around” ways to solve the problem. Thus, we chose
those modifications, that make the tasks unsolvable, if students do not consider the
changes of load, which each “movement” brings. Each time a student solves the task,
he should be driven to refer to evaluation of load in the modelling space – otherwise
the “conceptual” means of solution will not be adopted: during this early period of
concept formation once a task allows to solve it without “coins” students will surely
skip the “bothersome” procedure.
Among these modifications are the limitations on the operations available for
students: limited number of weights, the necessity to put all given weights before
testing the balance, the already attached weights, which can’t be moved, cancelling
some of the locations for weights, etc. (Fig. 10.6). In this respect, a computer simu-
lation is vital, as it can literally cancel some opportunities for students, whereas a
teacher can “announce” these restrictions for students when dealing with a real lever
and try to control every student, but rule-violations can never be totally excluded.
Some tasks are specially designed to be unsolvable – students are to prove, that
there is no solution (Fig. 10.7). The students, who were taught according to the
educational module, which we developed, answered without hesitation and doubt
174 E. Vysotskaya et al.

Fig. 10.6 The example of the task modifications: only one probe is allowed, all ten weight units
have to be placed on the lever, some locations are disabled

that the balance cannot be achieved as the load on the right side is ten “coins” and
the load on the left side is twelve “coins”: “We can add only one “coin” by moving
one of the weight units as far as possible, but to balance the other side we need to
add two “coins”!”.
Another example of task modification is the introduction of “unknown” weights,
which have to be balanced with usual weight units. The first “screen” (Fig. 10.8a)
shows the picture of a lever, which is already balanced with the combination of usual
weights and a new unit of “unknown” weight. Then students are asked to balance on
the first try another lever (Fig. 10.8b) with a preset number of usual and new weights,
so that it is impossible to repeat the initial configuration. A more complicated version
of this task demands, that the lever on the first “screen” has to be balanced before
students can proceed to the final part.
In order to balance the lever (Fig. 10.8b) on the first try students have to “weight”
the “unknown” unit. This can be done, using the previously balanced lever on the
picture provided (Fig. 10.8a). Students are to evaluate the total load on the left side of
the lever and get 12 load-tokens. Thus, the right side should also have 12 load-tokens:
six of them are “produced” by the common weight unit on the sixth position, and
the rest six tokens should be attributed to the “unknown” weight. A usual mistake is
to suggest, that the weight of the “unknown” unit equals six common units. In this
case, the attempt to use this “value” for balancing the new set of these weights on

Fig. 10.7 The example of an “unsolvable” task: “Decide whether the lever is balanced. If not,
restore the balance by relocating only one weight unit on the right side!”

Fig. 10.8 The example of the “unknown” weights task

10 Scaffolding Multiplicative Concepts Formation: A Way of Digital Support 175

the lever (Fig. 10.8b) will fail. The right “value” is derived, if the “steps” made by
the “unknown” weight from the fulcrum were taken into account: two steps from the
fulcrum means, that the new weight “was made” two times “heavier” than his “real”
weight. Thus students will be able to balance the final lever counting each of the new
units as three usual weights (Fig. 10.8b).
The collision between the seemingly “natural” way to handle the matter and the
“conceptual” way to solve problems comprises the most essential “psychological”
task modification (Galperin, 2007). Tasks of this kind are especially important for
diagnostic tools design to assess students’ mastery of the load concept in solving
balance scale problems (Fig. 10.9).
This task is most sensitive towards conceptual mediation of problem-solving, as
the naïve immediate strategies are quite tempting here. The idea to add one weight
to each side (as Mike suggested) naturally seems right, as well as the idea to move
all weights one step apart (Nancy’s variant). Yet both suggestions fail: if we evaluate
the load for each side of the lever, it becomes obvious that the balance is ruined in
both cases. Nevertheless, those students, who have acquired the concept successfully,
experience no difficulties: they evaluate the load and find that only Pete’s combination
is balanced, though it may not look like it at first glance.
An important approach, that also considered the problem of multiplicative
concepts formation, was developed upon further analysis of the content of opera-
tions, which correspond to logical multiplication. The difficulties in solving “crit-
ical tasks”: conflict-weight, conflict-distance, conflict-balance conditions (Filion &
Sirois, 2021; Hofman et al., 2015; Siegler, 1976) – happen, when students have to
perform some special actions over direct operations with objects, rather than over the
objects themselves. A way to approach this complicated system of cognitive actions
was to distribute the essential parameters of the objects among partners, so that the

Fig. 10.9 The critical task: “regaining balance”. The task goes as follows: “Students tried to achieve
balance with the same number of weight units (three on the left and two on the right), but with another
combination. Read their argumentation and choose the student(s), whose variant is balanced indeed”
176 E. Vysotskaya et al.

result would be achieved only through appropriate coordination between students.

This approach produced a number of researches on joint actions, which aimed to
assess and study the ways of solving problems, in particular those based on logical
multiplication (Davydov et al., 1996; Konokotin, 2019; Martin & Rubtsov, 1991;
Rubtsov et al., 2021; Ulanovskaya & Rivina, 2018). For a number of multiplicative
concepts (Rubtsov et al., 2021), it has been shown how the means of between-students
coordination of their partial actions evolve to coordination of simultaneous changes
of two magnitudes. Rubtsov (1987) describes the significant components of joint
actions’ organisation and underlines the most important psychological means to scaf-
fold the distribution of actions: communication and reflection (Rubtsov, 1987, p. 33).
The “objective” distribution is necessary here, as it allows a student to imagine and
to analyse his own contribution to the object’s changes with respect to his partner’s
“part”—thus, one derives and adopts the corresponding multiplicative concept from
this very reflection of the coordination’s basis and the comprehension of the concept’s
role in the orientation of one’s own operations. Special modelling means are intro-
duced to scaffold the concept’s “work” in the orientation procedure (Vysotskaya,
1996).
The computer support of the appropriate organisation of joint actions thus becomes
vital for our educational design. For our balance scale module and computer software,
accordingly (Fig. 10.10), we have chosen two variants of distributed operations:
either each partner is responsible for one of the lever sides, or one of the students can
choose the location, and the other - can add or remove weight units. The work with
the load-tokens in the modelling space thus comes forth as the space for negotiation
between partners, as they try to coordinate their future partial operations on the lever.
Coordination is not the same as direct guidance of the partner’s actions, as it often
happens, when formal distribution of roles takes place, and the task can be done
individually. The evaluation of load with the coins sets the special language for such
coordination, and the latter forms the content of the conceptual mediation of their
future actions’ design. The results of the orientation procedure retrieved from the
joint work of the partners, yet has to be reconsidered by each student individually—
so that they can decide on their own operations, which have to be performed with
weight units within available functions. The distribution of operations with the lever
enhances the necessity of the orientation procedure. For many children, joint work
with a partner may be the only way to grasp the multiplicative concept.
Our experience in the development of computer support for teaching the balance
problem allows us to ponder over the main requirements for software educational
design, which has the potential to scaffold students’ learning activity (concept
acquisition).
10 Scaffolding Multiplicative Concepts Formation: A Way of Digital Support 177

Fig. 10.10 The screen of our digital lever. A “workshop episode” of students’ joint problem-
solving: each student can rearrange the weight units on his side of the lever. “Screws” are a symbolic
means to mark the load for each weight unit. The student on the right has already evaluated the load
of his single weight unit, the student on the left tries to balance it with three weight units and is in
process of load-evaluation before the balance will be checked

10.4 Discussion

The design of the modelling space, which will be provided for students to make their
“thinking” tangible, is the central challenge for the learning activity approach. The
special modelling means are introduced in order to scaffold new orientative actions.
As students test and adopt them, they rebuild the “natural” image of their usual prac-
tical operations with the matter and cease to make well-known mistakes, commonly
interpreted as age-related. Our main focus, thus, is on the way to provide (and for
students to acquire) the concepts, which prevent students from these mistakes in prin-
ciple, rather than to investigate “natural” casually happening evolutions of students’
ideas and misconceptions. Hence, the appropriate age period for students to acquire
the concepts within the learning activity approach depends upon the major task, which
the curriculum designers and teachers set before them. For students from 12 years
and up the propaedeutics of the natural science concepts is relevant. The forma-
tion of functional pre-concepts will scaffold the acquisition and application of the
concepts with complex structure (involving the relations between magnitudes, such
as a “true” torque concept behind the equilibrium). On the other hand, for primary
school students (who we aim mostly at) it is most important to overcome their
everyday notions and salient representations by means of special modelling proce-
dures. The “meaningful” rather than “formal” content of these procedures appear to
178 E. Vysotskaya et al.

be the gateway to “conceptual” (theoretical) thinking (Davydov, 2008; Davydov &

Vardanyan, 1981), which is the central psychological attainment for this age period.
Our experimental teaching series on the balance concept were conducted with
students of different age (from 2nd grade students to adults) and proved the very
possibility to set before students the learning task as planned. For 6th and 7th graders,
it was a relevant educational module in line with the general topic of simple machines,
which is a starting one for learning Physics. Concerning the primary school students,
we were not aiming to provide them with a grown-up concept of the “torque”, we
rather gave them opportunity to act conceptually when solving a comprehensible,
yet challenging problem in a way, which contradicts their naïve suggestions based
on consideration of one parameter, and on additive strategies, they adhere.
The distribution of object-oriented actions between partners, which we exploit,
parts its ways from the trending comprehension of collaboration and cooperation
in learning (Sun et al., 2020). A number of difficulties in problem-solving based
on the necessity to consider the changes of two parameters simultaneously, may be
overcome through the organisation of joint actions. “Keeping in mind” the inner
coordination of the two factor’s changes was no more a problem, as this relation was
“kept” by external means, which scaffolded the distribution and coordination of the
joint changes performed on the lever. The problem of bringing together the disparate
heterogeneous factors was resolved on its own – it was replaced by the other task:
students were to choose the operations and correct their ways of changing the object
(lever), adjusting to the desired result (balance) defined by general means (load-
tokens) beforehand. This path of concept formation allows students to consider right
from the start a variety of problems and tasks, much broader than it was thought to be
possible within the analysis of “two factor’s interrelations”. Our tasks included “scat-
tered” weights, balancing unknown weights, etc., which have always been difficult
even for adults, not to mention primary school graduates and younger.

10.5 Conclusion

The digitalisation of learning urges the educational designers once again to question
the “activity” content of school subjects and raises expectations and requirements
towards the logical and psychological analysis, which yet has to be conducted for
each concept students need to acquire. The potential of computer support depends
on the structure and content of the learning activity, which is specially designed for a
particular school concept formation. Unless the content of the concept of interest is
analysed in terms of special orientation procedures, unless the situation of concept
origin is reconstructed within students’ own learning activity, the role and functions
of a computer support cannot be determined. As we reconsider the most researched
upon task of balancing a lever within the learning activity approach, we can make
a step away from the traditional comprehension of balance as the multiplication of
“two factors” changing independently, and the corresponding educational design.
The consideration of weight and distance as such appears to be insufficient to form
10 Scaffolding Multiplicative Concepts Formation: A Way of Digital Support 179

the wholesome orientation base for students to solve all tasks of the kind. On the
contrary, the well-known inverse proportion may be understood itself as a reflection
and a derivate of already-acquired concept in a particular case of balance (that is,
when weights are not “scattered”).
It is remarkable, that the approach to educational design, based on the cultural-
historical and activity theory, helps to determine computer’s role in scaffolding
students’ own learning activity within the substantial communication. Computer
support proves to be essential for delivering the balance concept: it helps to set the
problem, it enables modelling with special objects directly on the screen, it allows
to create tasks with a variety of modifications to constantly return students to the
conceptual grounds of their actions in the appropriate orientation procedures. The
most essential function of computer software is supporting joint actions: the proce-
dure and the means of coordination of partners’ partial actions comprise the content
of their future concept.
As researchers choose to deal directly with some aspects of computer-based
education, they leave the wholesome picture of concept acquisition out of scope –
consequently, for task design they exploit traditional instruction or try to avoid
any subject-specific content at all, suggesting some logical and “real-life” tasks
instead (Alterman & Harsch, 2017; Care et al., 2016; Goodyear et al., 2004; Schel-
lens & Valcke, 2005). As students’ actions and actual orientation processes are
adopted from traditional didactics, the outcome in terms of subjects’ comprehen-
sion does not change drastically (Lowe, 2001), though some gains may be observed
in communicative competencies or motivation.
Computer support design, based on the learning activity approach, aims to set a
learning problem (in Davydov’s classical definition, as a step to the search for general
method for solving particular tasks). The appropriate way to build the “conceptual”
method of problem–solving may be demonstrated on the multiplicative concepts
example and confirms the basic principles of computer support development, which
we have outlined earlier (Rubtsov et al., 2021; Vysotskaya, 1996). The computer
support has to include:
• conducting “one-side” transformations of the objects, which will reveal the
necessity of the conceptual connection between the “distributed” actions;
• testing the new means of coordination within the modelling space, adjusting the
models of objects to the verified models of actions;
• the retention of the way, in which the parameters of the objects are interrelated,
with the new notion, which is used to “separate” the actions from the particular
situation;
• joint design of the new schemes of operations to transform objects according to
the tasks’ requirements.
The described feasible way to support students’ dealing with the troublesome
“multiplicative” tasks (in the example of the balance problems) through the specially
designed computer simulation may be considered original among a great number
of approaches to digitalisation in education. It may be sufficient for integration of
180 E. Vysotskaya et al.

communicative and conceptual components of the task based on the meaningful joint
model-mediated actions.

References

Aidarova, L. I. (1978). Psikhologicheskie problemy obucheniia mladshikh shkolnikov russkomu

iazyku [Psychological problems of teaching Russian to junior schoolchildren]. Pedagogika
(in Russian). http://lib.mgppu.ru/opacunicode/app/webroot/index.php?url=/notices/index/IdN
otice:9803/Source:default
Alterman, R., & Harsch, K. (2017). A more reflective form of joint problem solving. International
Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 12(1), 9–33.
Boom, J., Hoijtink, H., & Kunnen, S. (2001). Strategies in the balance classes, strategies, or strategies
for the balance scale test? Cognitive Development, 16, 717–735.
Care, E., Scoular, C., & Griffin, P. (2016). Assessment of collaborative problem solving in education
environments. Applied Measurement in Education, 29(4), 250–264.
Coles, A. (2021). Commentary on a special issue: Davydov’s approach in the XXI century.
Educational Studies in Mathematics, 106(3), 471–478.
Davydov, V. V. (2008). Problems of developmental instruction. Nova Science Publishers (Original
work published in 1986).
Davydov, V. V. (1990). Types of generalization in instruction: Logical and psychological problems
in the structuring of school curricula. Soviet Studies in Mathematics Education (Vol. 2). National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1906 Association Dr., Reston, VA 22091.
Davydov, V. V., & Vardanyan A. U. (1981). Uchebnaya deyatel’nost’ i modelirovaniye [Learning
activity and modeling]. Lujs (in Russian).
Davydov, V. V., Rubtsov, V. V., Kritsky, A. G. (1996). Psikhologicheskiye osnovy organizatsii
uchebnoy deyatel’nosti, oposredstvovannoy ispol’zovaniyem komp’yuternykh sistem [Psycho-
logical foundations of the organization of educational activities mediated by the use of computer
systems]. Psychological Science and Education, 1(2) (in Russian).
Davydov, V. V., Zinchenko, V. P., & Talyzina, N. F. (1983). The problem of activity in the works
of A. N. Leont’ev. Soviet Psychology, 21(4), 31–42. https://doi.org/10.2753/RPO1061-040521
0431
Goodyear, P., Jones, C., Asensio, M., Hodgson, V., & Steeples, C. (2004). Undergraduate students’
experiences of networked learning in UK higher education: A survey-based study. In Advances
in research on networked learning (pp. 91–121). Springer.
Engeness, I. (2021). P.Y. Galperin’s development of human mental activity: Lectures in educational
psychology. Springer Nature.
Filion, V. M., & Sirois, S. (2021). Children’s (Mis) understanding of the Balance Beam (Online
Edition). Frontiers in Psychology, 12.
Galperin, P. Y. (2007). Lekciya 12 [Lecture 12]. Lekcii po psihologii [Psychology lectures]. Moscow
(in Russian)
Galperin, P. Y. (1989). Mental actions as a basis for the formation of thoughts and images. Soviet
Psychology, 27(3), 45–64.
Galperin, P. Y., & Talyzina, N. F. (1957). Formirovanie nachalnykh geometricheskikh ponyatii
na osnove organizovannogo deistviia uchashchikhsia [Formation of initial geometric concepts
based on the organized action of students]. Voprosy psikhologii [Issues of Psychology], 1, 28–44
(in Russian). http://lib.mgppu.ru/opacunicode/app/webroot/index.php?url=/notices/index/IdN
otice:24066/Source:default
Hofman, A. D., Visser, I., Jansen, B. R., & van der Maas, H. L. (2015). The balance-scale task
revisited: A comparison of statistical models for rule-based and information-integration theories
of proportional reasoning. PLoS One, 10(10), e0136449.
10 Scaffolding Multiplicative Concepts Formation: A Way of Digital Support 181

Inhelder, B., & Piaget, J. (1958). The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence: An
essay on the construction of formal operational structures (Vol. 22). Psychology Press.
Jansen, B. R., & van der Maas, H. L. (2002). The development of children’s rule use on the balance
scale task. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 81, 383–416. https://doi.org/10.1006/
jecp.2002.2664
Konokotin, A. V. (2019). Inclusion of children with special educational needs and typically devel-
oping children in joint problem-solving (with tasks on understanding multiplicative relations
as an example). Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya [Cultural-Historical Psychology], 15(4),
79–88. https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2019150408 (in Russ., аbstr. in Engl.).
Leontiev, A. N. (1978). Activity, consciousness, and personality. Prentice Hall (Original in Russian
published in 1975).
Li, F., Xie, L., Yang, X., & Cao, B. (2017). The effect of feedback and operational experience on
children’s rule learning. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 534.
Liders, A. G., & Frolov, Y. I. (1996). Ot Vygotskogo k Gal’perinu [From Vygotsky to Galperin]. In
G. V. Burmenskaya, O. A. Karabanova,.G. Liders, L. F. Obukhova, Y. I. Frolov (Eds.), Special
supplement to the Journal of Practical Psychology (pp. 4–51) (in Russian).
Lowe, J. (2001). Computer-based education: Is it a panacea? Journal of Research on Technology in
Education, 34(2), 163–171.
Martin, L., & Rubtsov, V. V. (1991). The dynamics of collective interaction and its role in the
development of understanding in children. Soviet Psychology, 29(3), 66–81. https://doi.org/10.
2753/RPO1061-0405290366
Repkin, V. V. (2003). Developmental teaching and learning activity. Journal of Russian & East
European Psychology, 41(5), 10–33.
Rubtsov, V. V. (1987). Organizatsiya i razvitiye sovmestnykh deystviy v organizatsii obucheniya
[Organization and development of joint actions in the organization of learning]. Pedagogika (in
Russian).
Rubtsov, V. V., Vysotskaya, E. V., Zak, A. Z., et al. (2021). Sovmestnaya uchebnaya deyatel’nost’
i razvitiye detej [Collaborative learning and child development]. In V. V. Rubtsov & I. M.
Ulanovskaya (Eds.). FGBOU VO MGPPU (In Russian).
Sage, S., & Langley, P. (1983, January). Modeling cognitive development on the balance scale task
(pp. 94–96). IJCAI.
Schellens, T., & Valcke, M. (2005). Collaborative learning in asynchronous discussion groups: What
about the impact on cognitive processing? Computers in Human Behavior, 21(6), 957–975.
Siegler, R. (1976). Three aspects of cognitive development. Cognitive Psychology, 8(4), 481–520.
Siegler, R. (1978 [2013]). Children’s thinking: What develops? Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Reprinted in 2013, Psychology Press.
Siegler, R., & Chen, Z. (1998). Developmental differences in rule learning: A microgenetic analysis.
Cognitive Psychology, 36, 273–310. https://doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1998.0686
Sun, C., Shute, V. J., Stewart, A., Yonehiro, J., Duran, N., & D’Mello, S. (2020). Towards a
generalized competency model of collaborative problem solving. Computers & Education, 143,
103672.
Tahai, L., Wallace, J. R., Eckhardt, C., & Pietroszek, K. (2019, September). Scalebridge: Design and
evaluation of adaptive difficulty proportional reasoning game for children. 2019 11th Interna-
tional Conference on Virtual Worlds and Games for Serious Applications (VS-Games), pp. 1–4.
IEEE.
Talyzina, N. F. (1968). The stage theory of formation of mental operations and the problem of the
development of thought. Soviet Education, 10(4), 38–42.
Talyzina, N. F. (1989). The computerization of learning-scientific foundation. Soviet Psychology,
27(1), 79–88.
Ulanovskaya, I. M., & Rivina, I. V. (2018). Joint problem solving in different educational envi-
ronments. The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences EpSBS/ICPE 2018
International Conference on Psychology and Education, pp. 706–713
182 E. Vysotskaya et al.

Van der Graaf, J. (2020). Inquiry-based learning and conceptual change in balance beam
understanding. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1621.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and language. MIT Press (Original in Russian published in 1934).
Vysotskaya, E. V. (1996). Glava 3.3. Predmetno-oriyentirovannyye uchebnyye sredy dlya
formirovaniya ponyatiy v sovmestnoy uchebno-isslledovatel’skoy deyatel’nosti [Chapter 3.3
Object-oriented learning environments for concept-formation within joint learning inquiry
activity]. In V. V. Rubtsov (Ed.), Kommunikativno-oriyentirovannyye obrazovatel’nyye sredy.
Psikhologiya proyektirovaniya. [Communication-oriented educational environments. Design
psychology]. Psychological Institute of RAO. https://psychlib.ru/inc/absid.php?absid=9161 (in
Russian).
Vysotskaya, E. V., Lobanova, A. D., & Yanishevskaya, M. A. (2022). Mastering models in a quasi-
learning situation of problem-solving. Psychological Science and Education, 27(1), 27–36.
https://doi.org/10.17759/pse.20222701
Zuckerman, G. A. (2020). Co-action of learners: Resolved and unresolved issues. Psikhologich-
eskaya nauka i obrazovanie [Psychological Science and Education], 25(4), 51–59. https://doi.
org/10.17759/pse.2020250405 (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.).
Chapter 11
The Math Club as a Learning Space
for Teachers: Guiding Principles Based
on Cultural-Historical Theory

Anemari Roesler Luersen Vieira Lopes, Manoel Oriosvaldo de Moura,

and Wellington Lima Cedro

Abstract Considering that the teacher education must offer opportunities for student
teachers to be perceived as a regular teacher, in a process of practices supported by
reflection. The Mathematics Club project has involved students from mathematics
and pedagogy, which consists of a learning space for teaching education once it
offers the student teachers a chance to organize, to apply as well as to plan teaching
activities. Above all, the student teachers involved in the project ought to share
their knowledge and experiences in order to reflect on the pedagogical action. The
teacher’s work is based on the idea that one cannot enclose the practice through
individualities due to it is something necessarily shared; therefore, all actions are
carried out by everybody involved in the project. The Mathematics Club is developed
in a perspective of cultural-historical activity theory. In this way, the student teacher
searches for conditions that involve him to organize his teaching in order to transform
it into his own learning.

When we examine the teacher’s activity, we see that its significance is found in the
act of teaching. In certain ways, the teacher’s job has intrinsic autonomy, yet this
autonomy is insufficient to prevent alienation. The subjective nature of this activity,
in our opinion, is the primary cause of this alienation. The teacher education is one
of the subjective conditions of instructional activity. This training process is unable
to offer the individual with a grasp of the educational activity’s purpose. Simply said,

A. R. L. V. Lopes
Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil
M. O. de Moura
University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
W. L. Cedro (B)
Federal Univerisity de Goiás, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil
e-mail: wcedro@ufg.br

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 183
A. Veraksa and Y. Solovieva (eds.), Learning Mathematics by Cultural-Historical
Theory Implementation, Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical
Focus 7, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66894-4_11
184 A. R. L. V. Lopes et al.

it reduces the teacher to little more than a practitioner or someone who engages in
contemplation, but this in turn is completely devoid of significance.
By defining teaching as the fundamental element of educational activity, we recog-
nize that this demands an effort to comprehend not just the teaching and learning
processes, but also the concerns linked to the spaces where these processes unfold.
In this way, teacher preparation assumes that they will develop professionally
while completely avoiding the pitfalls of professionalism. In the meanwhile, it links
them to the appropriation of the teaching activity’s meaning, which enables the
complete and unhindered improvement of human condition. From this assertion, we
can infer the following about what a math teacher is:
[...] the subject who dominates the content, but more importantly, the one who has a strategic
vision of their action in the school teaching project in which mathematics has a certain cultural
and formative value and, thus, by executing it, they build themselves up with new qualities as
teachers while also building with students a mathematics to humanize their worlds.1 (Moura,
2000, p. 126)

To reach this profile of a mathematics teacher, it is important to realize that not all
types of training enable instructors to acquire the abilities and knowledge inherent
in pedagogical activity, i.e., the school does not always assist to think better. In this
regard, we should consider the following:
The priority for those who disagree with the way society [in our case, school, and teacher
education] is to work together to create effective places for innovation in educational practice
that each individual produces in their own institution.2 (Cortella, 2000, p. 137)

Recognizing the limitations in the overall training of a teacher who teach math-
ematics, and having dissatisfaction with the way school learning is organized as
a motive, the Math Club project was created, which answers the demand for the
creation of effective spaces for innovation (Cortella, 2000), or in our terms, learning
spaces.
It should be noted that the Math Club is not comprehended in its typical format
(Graven, 2015; Stott & Graven, 2013). The formative suggestion of the Mathematical
Club (CluMat) differs in this manner from the way we often implement formative
processes for instructors of mathematics since most of the activities are organized
collaboratively, and this is done in consideration of the crucial articulation between
theory and practice, which is one of the characteristics of the Math Club’s educational
proposal. As a result, the subjects who take part in it might assign alternative meanings
to the organizing acts of mathematical education.

1 “[...] o sujeito que domina o conteúdo, mas é, sobretudo, o que tem a visão estratégica da sua ação
no projeto de ensino da escola em que a Matemática tem um determinado valor cultural e formativo
e, sendo assim, ao executá-lo, edifica-se com novas qualidades de professor ao mesmo tempo em
que constrói com os alunos uma Matemática humanizadora de seus mundos”.
2 “O prioritário, para aqueles que discordam da forma como a sociedade [no nosso caso mais

especifico a escola e a formação de professores] se organiza, é construir coletivamente os espaços

efetivos de inovação na prática educativa que cada um desenvolve na sua própria instituição”.
11 The Math Club as a Learning Space for Teachers: Guiding Principles … 185

Studies conducted by Cedro (2004), Lopes (2004), and Moura (2000), among
others, demonstrate that in contrast to the theoretical discourse on the typical chal-
lenges faced by math instructors, the demands set out by CluMat enable the partic-
ipant teachers in training to comprehend the impact of such conditions in the plan-
ning and development of the educational activity. This generates fresh knowledge
as teachers in training realize how important it is to engage in spaces marked by
collaboration.

11.1 The Math Club

The Math Club was created as an internship project for pedagogy and mathematics
undergraduate students, with the assumption that the teacher’s formative process is
important in making educational activity more objective (Moura, 2021).
This activity should be regarded as structured in the dimension of human activity
(Leontiev, 1978), because in activity, the educator acts from an ideal plan by orga-
nizing activities and operations that are carried out for appropriating scientific
expertise and knowledge.
The development of proposals for teacher education that reflect the importance
of interactions in the process of significance of what they aim at (the formation of
theoretical thinking through the appropriation of scientific knowledge) was therefore
fundamentally influenced by the theoretical foundations that can open the way for
teaching while considering students and teachers from the perspective of subjects in
activity (Leontiev, 1978).
In creating venues for the Math Club, we intended to experience ideas produced
within paradigms for the conceptualization of schooling at that moment, which
included: the teacher’s personal dimension; the role of practice in training processes,
and the protection of schools as places for teachers’ professional development. We
primarily intended to create conditions that would allow teachers to practice their
profession as subjects who interact with concepts as symbolic tools in their prepon-
derant activity: the pedagogical. Thus, in teacher education centers, these should
precisely experience the process of meaning-making of their future activities toward
the understanding of their object to bring social significance to what they do.
The Math Club arose naturally from a model of learning processes that was
extended to the style of collaborative teacher education, which we later referred
to as a training space (Cedro, 2015). Nevertheless, there is a novel quality in this
Math Club as a space for learning how to teach: the establishment within the teacher’s
training unit of a place of accomplishment of pedagogical activity like the one to be
concretely experienced when completing the program.
Based on what we believed to be having an impact on the formative processes of the
teachers, both those who were already working professionally and those who were in
the process of training, the theoretical foundations of the teacher education action that
took place in the Math Club were also being shaped and deepened during the activities
performed. The execution of the activities is allowed for the awareness-raising of the
186 A. R. L. V. Lopes et al.

teacher’s formative teaching processes, which were settled on the cultural-historical

theory’s principles and notably on the concept of activity (Leontiev, 1978).

11.2 Guiding Principles for the Mathematics Teachers

Education

We contend that teaching is critical to individual growth and that the relationship
between the movement of teaching (the teacher) and learning (the student) is tied
to how the educator arranges teaching. “Properly planned learning turns into mental
development and sets in action numerous developmental processes that would other-
wise be unable to occur,” writes Vygotsky (1984, p. 118). As a result, we can deduce
the significance of teacher education for a teaching organization focused on student
learning.
This idea implies that we need to enhance teacher preparation in order to improve
education, a sentiment that most individuals involved in education may be said to
share to some level. This notion has caused many agencies and managers to believe
that every course, program, project, or activity offered or pushed on teachers would
result in enhanced learning and that if this does not occur, teachers are to be blamed.
However, this premise is false, because it is critical to grasp that no procedure
involving instructors (or prospective teachers) can be deemed formative.
Our experience as a teacher educator, combined with the research findings of our
group and others in which we are involved, has led us to consider what elements
or aspects—which we refer to as guiding principles at this point—can be consid-
ered relevant when discussing teacher education, especially for those who teach
mathematics.
Among these, we highlight five:
1. The school as an organized space for appropriation of human culture.
2. The teacher as the actor in training processes.
3. Intentionality as an essential component of teaching organization.
4. Sharing as a basic principle for understanding the pedagogical activity.
5. The role of mathematical knowledge in fostering personal growth.
By writing option, although we will explore each of them separately in this
text, they constitute a unit of the object described here—formation—as far as they
complete and interrelate at the many times that entail a formative process. In this
way, we clarify that we see them as both a premise and a product of any process
aimed at becoming formative.
1. The School as an Organized Space for Appropriation of Human Culture
In the development of formative processes, it is important to discuss the social
role of the school and its commitment the students that it educates.
We will start by turning to Leontiev (1978), who emphasizes that human beings
do not naturally possess the historical knowledge that humanity has amassed; rather,
11 The Math Club as a Learning Space for Teachers: Guiding Principles … 187

this knowledge is developed over time and is absorbed in the world at large, not
individually, into the major works of human civilization. Only through appropriation
of the great works of human culture during one’s life, can one get fully human
qualities and faculties. As the author puts it:
Therefore, each generation begins its life in a world of objects and phenomena created by the
previous generations. They appropriate the richness of this world, taking part in the work,
the production and
in the varied forms of social activities, thus developing specifically human skills […].3
(Leontiev, 1978, p. 284)

In this regard, Rigon et al., (2010, p. 29) emphasize that social practice serves
as a bridge between the individual and genericity and that “the cultural appropria-
tions inherent in this process coincide with the socialization of historically produced
knowledge.” The subject’s psychic abilities are formed because of their activity of
appropriating culture.
In carrying out tasks, the unique individual interacts with humanity in a mediated manner.
The basic interaction that the singular person creates with society is this mediation between
the individual and the generic. The individual becomes human throughout life in society by
appropriating the human essence, which is a cultural-historical product, through this process
of appropriations and objectivations made possible by labor.4 (Rigon et al., 2010, p. 16)

Humans actively participate in this process, which is not innate since they actively
reproduce the characteristics of earlier generations and can use these traits to advance
in their own development. This leads us to infer that education facilitates the
acquisition of knowledge, techniques, values, practices, behaviors, and art.
From this perspective, education is a humanization process to the extent that
knowledge appropriation is seen as a means of gaining access to historically produced
culture. We draw attention to the fact that our understanding endorses Martins (2010,
p. 16) assertion that
As a result, we are not referring to a liberal conception of humanization, in which this
process is exemplified by the centrality of the abstract subject in relation to the concrete
circumstances of its existence. On the contrary, it is a process that depends on the production
and reproduction in each unique individual of the highest capacities already attained by the
human species. A process, in other words, that is completely constrained by the appropria-
tions of physical and symbolic property produced historically by human labor, from which
professors cannot be alienated.5

3 “Cada geração começa, portanto, a sua vida num mundo de objetos e de fenômenos criados
pelas gerações precedentes. Ela apropria-se das riquezas desse mundo participando no trabalho,
na produção e nas diversas formas de atividade social e desenvolvendo assim as aptidões
especificamente humanas”.
4 “Na realização de sua atividade, o homem singular relaciona-se, de forma também mediada, com o

gênero humano. Essa mediação entre o indivíduo e a genericidade é a própria relação que o homem
singular estabelece com a sociedade. Nesse processo de apropriações e objetivações, viabilizado por
meio do trabalho, o indivíduo torna-se humano ao longo de sua vida em sociedade, ao apropriar-se
da essência humana, que é um produto histórico-cultural.”
5 “Não estamos, portanto, nos referindo à concepção liberal de humanização, para quem esse

processo se efetiva na centralidade do sujeito abstraído das circunstâncias concretas de sua

188 A. R. L. V. Lopes et al.

In this light, we may conclude that the school is a space that facilitates the absorp-
tion of historically generated culture, therefore boosting the development of students’
maximal potential, particularly through curricular knowledge.
However, in order to develop humanizing abilities, “it is necessary to develop in
relation to the object or phenomenon a (adequate) activity that reproduces, by form,
the essential features of the embodied activity, accumulated in the object” (Leontiev,
1978, p. 286). It is in this context that the teacher is placed in their teaching activity,
because it is expected that at school, the process of cultural appropriation occurs,
and the teacher, while not.
Moura (2001) clarifies that the student and teacher to engage in humanizing
activity, they must “imagine” the object that satisfies their needs to humanize them-
selves. This object in the educational system is knowledge, and in the case of teachers,
this object is the activity that these actions are composed of:
Being a teacher means that we have a common characteristic with other people who have as
their main practice to teach something to someone else, that is, to be a teacher requires an
action that aims to transform oneself by transforming another person, to change their way of
being and acting. We believe that the subject, who is the fruit of our educational action, will
acquire a certain knowledge that will enable them to act in a certain way in the environment
in which they live. Their own learning will enable them to understand some phenomenon
in some way. And this will allow for using this new knowledge to impact reality.6 (Moura,
2001, p. 144)
A formative approach must ensure that the teacher understands that the actions
they organize can improve the development of their students’ education. Therefore,
it is important to learn how to encourage educational actions that fully enable the
development of human qualities possible, whether by choosing materials that have to
be adapted or by setting up learning trigger situations that push students to look for
solutions to a problem that arises from the need to appropriate the knowledge required
for this. In other words, the teaching organization should lead to the absorption of
knowledge that humanity has historically accumulated.
Based on the foundations that inspire us, we repeat that education is a vital compo-
nent of human development. Paro (2001) contributes to this concept by stating that
although completely devoid of cultural qualities at birth, people are the authors of
history when they produce culture based on their socially constructed needs and that
education enables the appropriation of this human history. We argue that individuals
are provided education as a cultural-historical update, which means that.

existência. Trata-se, outrossim, de um processo dependente da produção e reprodução em cada

indivíduo particular das máximas capacidades já conquistadas pelo gênero humano. Um processo,
portanto, absolutamente condicionado pelas apropriações do patrimônio físico simbólico produzido
historicamente pelo trabalho dos homens, dos quais os professores não podem estar alienados.”
6 “O fato de ser professor diz que temos uma característica comum com outros sujeitos que têm

como prática principal ensinar algo a alguém, isto é, para ser professor é necessária uma ação que
visa transformar-se ao transformar outra pessoa, mudar o seu modo de ser e de agir. Acreditamos
que o sujeito, que é fruto de nossa ação educativa, vai adquirir um certo conhecimento que vai
lhe capacitar a agir de uma determinada forma no meio em que vive. A sua aprendizagem vai lhe
capacitar a compreender algum fenômeno de alguma forma. E isto vai lhe permitir usar desse novo
saber para impactar a realidade.”
11 The Math Club as a Learning Space for Teachers: Guiding Principles … 189

through the appropriation of knowledge, values, beliefs, artistic abilities, etc., people create
potentialities that add culture to their nature, making them more human (historically
speaking). One becomes a human-historical being through the appropriation of cultural
components, which combine to form a living personality.7 (Paro, 2001, p. 25)

Education, particularly school education, becomes important as a means of human

development by allowing a conscious organization of the processes of individual
formation from an intentional organization of teaching, providing subjects with the
opportunity to appropriate knowledge, skills, and forms of behavior produced by
humanity. In this light, “the school is a privileged institution in terms of humanization
prospects” (Rigon et al., 2010, p. 29), and the teacher is the subject who must possess
the access to the realm of human heritage to pass it on to future generations.
This realm encompasses numerous factors, including knowledge of what will be
taught, in the case of the topic at hand, mathematical knowledge, and its role in the
humanization process.
2. The Teacher as the Actor in Training Processes
We have observed that many courses, programs, projects, or other initiatives were
masterfully planned by outstanding professionals in the field of education failed to
succeed when they were imposed on instructors. Several studies, including those by
Marco et al. (2015) and Silva and Coco (2017), have highlighted the importance of
developing training processes that consider the teacher in their professional situation,
and, above all, it should go in accordance with their very training needs rather than
with others pushed by the people who propose them.
We underline that we agree with Martins (2010, p. 14) that professional training,
particularly teacher education, is “a trajectory of training of individuals, intentionally
planned, for the realization of a certain social practice.” No formative process can,
therefore, be separated from the intricate social web that the teaching profession is
a part of.
When we refer to the teachers’ labor, we assume that their act of teaching, which
is directed toward a specific goal (to teach), needs to be planned out accordingly.
That is, we understand from a cultural-historical perspective that if the human being
is formed through working—defined as a human activity—teachers are formed by
aligning their needs with the learning of their students.
Consequently, if the teacher’s work is the teaching activity that is related to satis-
fying the need to teach, the formative processes are likely to be related to their need
to provide themselves with knowledge to this end. From this reasoning, we can
anticipate a training process to be a training activity.
It should be kept in mind that every activity belongs to an agent; hence, the teacher
must be the agent of the training activity. Teachers will only participate in a training
activity, though, if it is driven by their own training needs (and not external to them),
as a reflection of their motives.

7“ele vai se tornando mais humano (histórico) à medida que desenvolve suas potencialidades, que
à sua natureza vai acrescentando cultura, pela apropriação de conhecimentos, valores, crenças,
habilidades artísticas etc. É pela apropriação dos elementos culturais, que passam a constituir sua
personalidade viva, que o homem se faz humano-histórico”.
190 A. R. L. V. Lopes et al.

Let us recapitulate Leontiev’s (1978, p. 96) notion that motive “does not indicate
the sense of a need, but the results of a need that is fulfilled with objectives in the
conditions presented and toward which the activity is oriented, what motivates it.”
And the purpose that drives the subject’s actions is what generates meanings.
But why does a teacher decide to take part in a formative process?
If it has to do with fulfilling an obligation to the school or the department of
education, the incentive will only act as a motivator. Given that the motivation does
not align with the goal of the training activity, the teacher may even attend the entire
process and perform the activities just with the objective of finishing them.
On the other hand, if the training process unfolds from their desires to acquire the
necessary knowledge for their jobs, there is a chance that their split will be motivated
by the personal meanings associated with their training. Remember that the senses
are the individual consciousness’ reflection of the appropriation of a given social
meaning and, as such, are strongly tied to what is specific to the subject. The motives
established in this manner will be effective because they are tied to the meanings
assigned to the training process by the teacher (rather than the organizer) and they
can induce a training activity.
When we understand that training processes should provide opportunities for
teachers to acquire knowledge aimed at developing their teaching activity, we empha-
size that they should take an active role in organization and implementation, rather
than being mere executors of tasks or formulas.
Franco and Longarezi (2011, p. 564) highlight the importance of
[…] the subject’s engagement and involvement in their formative process as directly tied to
the realization of their needs rather than those who offer it. This helps us understand why
many ideas, particularly for continuing education, frequently fail to achieve their objectives
since they are based on external stimuli towards instructors and may lead to alienation, as
evidenced by teachers’ speeches, behavior, and the school culture.8

The writers emphasize the alienation caused by a discordance between the objec-
tive consequence of human activity and its motivation, or, to put it another way, when
“the objective content of the activity does not currently coincide with its subjective
content, that is, with what it is for the very person” (Leontiev, 1978, p. 122). And
this can only be prevented if formative processes are organized as formative action
with the instructor as the subject.
Furthermore, one must consider their workplace—the school—and its involve-
ment in the education of the people involved.
3. Intentionality as an Essential Component of Teaching Organization
So far, we have discussed the possibilities of training processes being organized
as a training activity from the perspective of humanization, arguing that knowledge

8 “[...] a participação e o envolvimento do sujeito em seu processo formativo estejam estreitamente

relacionados à satisfação de sua necessidade e não a de quem o propõe. Isso nos leva a compreender
porque muitas propostas, principalmente de formação continuada, muitas vezes não atingem seus
objetivos por serem propostos a partir de estímulos externos aos professores podendo levar à alien-
ação, o que é corriqueiramente percebido nas falas dos professores, seus comportamentos e na
cultura escolar”.
11 The Math Club as a Learning Space for Teachers: Guiding Principles … 191

historically produced by people is part of human culture and an element of human

development, with the social role of the teacher being to organize the teaching in
such a way that students can appropriate the developed culture. Additionally, we
have previously emphasized the Vygotskian premise that learning and development
are not the results of just any education, which is consistent with this view.
To accomplish this, teaching actions must be directed toward attaining the social
objectives of the school curriculum, which requires that the teacher define actions,
select instruments, and evaluate the teaching and learning process. This is because
students can appropriate the most diverse elements of human culture according to
their needs and interests in an unintentional and non-systematic manner; however, it
is in the intentionally organized process of school education that the appropriation
of theoretical knowledge, through which the formation of theoretical thinking that
enables psychic development is structured (Moura et al., 2010).
We then assume, aligned with Moura et al., (2017, p. 72), that
intentionality on the part of the teacher regarding the goal of their activity (teaching),
combined with the actions and operations to ensure that a concept is learned, triggers the
processes of reflection, analysis, and synthesis by the teacher when interacting with students,
which may add new quality to their general method of structuring their Pedagogical Activity.9

Therefore, teaching, when intentionally organized, can promote and trigger devel-
opment processes, because, as Saviani (1991, p. 17) puts it, “educational work is the
act of producing, directly and intentionally, in each singular individual, the humanity
that is historically and collectively produced by the group of people.”
The commitment of those who teach mathematics to their students’ learning is
represented in the intentionality of their activities, which attempt to transform educa-
tion into a learning experience for the student, with theoretical knowledge serving
as a reference in the humanization process.
The teacher’s instructional activity must generate and promote student’s activity. It should
instill a unique motivation for them to study and acquire theoretical knowledge of reality.
Teachers arrange their personal activities, as well as their orientation, organization, and
evaluation actions, with this goal in mind.10 (Moura et al., 2010, p. 90)

We should not forget that Leontiev (1978) claimed that human activity is defined
by its purposeful nature since not only all acts are oriented toward a goal and motivated
by the satisfaction of needs, but are also grounded on the motives, and that this
movement results in the development of better cognitive functions.
As a result, the teacher’s activity, which involves the organization of teaching
aimed at student learning, implies that teachers are aware of their actions that will

9 “a intencionalidade do professor acerca da objetivação de sua atividade - o ensino -, aliada às

ações e operações para propiciar a aprendizagem de um conceito, desencadeia os processos de
reflexão, análise e síntese por parte do professor ao interagir com os estudantes, o que poderá dar
nova qualidade ao seu modo geral de organizar sua Atividade Pedagógica”.
10 “A atividade de ensino do professor deve gerar e promover a atividade do estudante. Ela deve criar

nele um motivo especial para a sua atividade: estudar e aprender teoricamente sobre a realidade.
É com essa intenção que o professor planeja a sua própria atividade e suas ações de orientação,
organização e avaliação”.
192 A. R. L. V. Lopes et al.

intentionality guide it, determining how to overcome the unconscious and arbitrary
plane. So, being engaged in a teaching activity means being aware of the act of
teaching.
More than anything else, consciousness entails being aware of the association to the commu-
nity whose actions are intended to provide the appropriation of human culture, or more
precisely, the appropriation of symbolic objects that can give the subjects the means necessary
to actively participate in society.11 (Moura, 2001, p. 186)

Because it is the teacher’s responsibility to plan actions that, when imple-

mented, will allow the student to acquire knowledge, as we have often maintained,
intentionality is an essential component in organizing teaching.
The development of the student’s higher psychological functions becomes depen-
dent upon intentionally planned instruction. But we want to be clear that the teacher,
who is the agent of the teaching action, is the one who must be intentional. Likewise,
this (intentionality) places accountability on those involved in lesson planning, which
warrants its treatment as a crucial factor to take into account in the training process.
Nonetheless, it should also be noted that no process becomes formative when it
focuses exclusively on the individuality of the subjects that compose it.
4. Sharing as a Basic Principle for Understanding the Pedagogical Activity
When Vygotsky claims that a subject learns through interaction with others, he is
referring to the subjects’ active participation. This premise aids in our comprehension
of how sharing can advance the learning of teaching.
By collaboratively designing learning actions, teachers create a new concept of
pedagogical activity, allowing them to appropriate the meaning of this activity, which
should be object-oriented (teaching); driven by needs (to help the subject learn); and
motivated by motives (to bring the subject closer to the knowledge produced by
humanity).
Sharing actions, perceptions, and meanings implies interaction between multiple
individuals, each with their own set of knowledge, which might influence the quality
of the process in which they are involved. This is because collective reflections require
that the subjects must be guided by common objectives to achieve new learning, as
long as
education is a collective process, [for] it is in sharing that the teacher can appropriate new
knowledge, because, although the actions may be of each of those who perform a particular
activity, learning does not happen in what each one does in isolation, but in the interaction
between subjects or between subjects and objects. Thus, it is necessary that the actions are
developed by all, but that each one has not only the opportunity, but also the commitment to
participate12 (Lopes et al., 2016, p. 25).

11 “Consciência que é acima de tudo, a de ser pertencente a uma comunidade cuja ação tem por
finalidade propiciar a apropriação da cultura humana, ou mais objetivamente, a apropriação de ferra-
mentas simbólicas capazes de permitir aos sujeitos os meios necessários para viverem plenamente
em sociedade”.
12 “sendo a educação um processo coletivo, é no compartilhar que o docente tem a oportunidade de

apropriar-se de novos conhecimentos, pois, embora as ações possam ser de cada um daqueles que
11 The Math Club as a Learning Space for Teachers: Guiding Principles … 193

We argue that it is critical in the process of teacher education to create situations

in which there is a need to share actions, because doing so allows subjects to develop
specific forms of cooperation, which may allow them to reach an appropriate level
in cognitive actions through appropriation and awareness of the significant process
of collective knowledge production.
Therefore, the teaching-learning process, as defined as an activity—like we previ-
ously established—is made possible through interactions directed by similar goals.
This allows it to manifest in the activities carried out with the other subjects. In this
process of interactions, individual actions are coordinated by identifying an object’s
properties, changing them, and creating collective effects. As a result, collaborative
actions that allow information exchange make it possible for subjects to reflect on
their own learning while considering the contributions of others.
“The sharing of actions manifests itself in a fruitful cognitive activity,” according
to Polivanova (1996, p. 151), “via a high level of structuring of intellectual effort, and
in an intensified form of reflection, control, and evaluation.” Thus, learning to teach,
which involves sharing actions and knowledge with other subjects who have similar
needs, enables teachers to create new connections that result in the acquisition of
new knowledge.
It should be highlighted that our definition of shared training extends beyond
performing actions together. It entails carrying out collaborative and interactive
actions capable of fostering the growth of the subjects involved, as well as developing
common objectives aimed at ways of organizing education geared toward students
and satisfying both individual and collective needs.
In this way, we can understand that, in a formative process, while what stimulates
each subject’s participation may initially respond to individual needs, it is the sharing
of actions that will ultimately determine the results obtained, so that individual actions
do not represent the product of joint activity, which can only be obtained through
collective actions originating in social relationships.
This perspective returns to the Vygotskyian principle, already mentioned here,
that the general trend of psychic development always goes from the social to the
individual, which leads us to infer that an action shared among several subjects can
become a general mode of organization of each of them, that is, the interpsychic
action becomes intrapsychic. This is how teaching training through sharing occurs:
when common actions among teachers aimed at organizing teaching become general
modes of organizing everyone’s teaching.
Furthermore, the subject might discuss their own activity based on what other
subjects say in the interaction, or the collective look for solutions to a particular
situation can become the individual solution. It is the collective view on the totality
of pedagogical activity—which includes both teaching and learning—that allows
teachers to appropriate the meaning of this activity, which must: be focused on an

concretizam uma determinada atividade, a aprendizagem não acontece no que cada um deles faz de
forma isolada, mas na interação entre sujeitos ou entre sujeitos e objetos. Assim, faz-se necessário
que as ações sejam desenvolvidas por todos, mas que cada um tenha não só a oportunidade, mas o
comprometimento de participar”.
194 A. R. L. V. Lopes et al.

object—teaching; be driven by needs—to make the subject learn; and have motives—
to bring the subject closer to the body of knowledge that humankind has explored.
Therefore, formative processes that take as fundamental the sharing among
different individuals, who occupy different spaces in education, open up possibili-
ties for better discussion about teaching and learning and all the issues that influence
them, allowing all those involved in the pedagogical activity to understand them-
selves as a unit between teaching and learning activities, organizing themselves in a
teacher learning space.
5. The Role of Mathematical Knowledge in Fostering Personal Growth
We believe that the school promotes physical, motor, psychological, and emotional
growth, as well as the acquisition and development of skills, values, attitudes, behav-
iors, and relationship patterns via experiences. But we draw special emphasis to the
school’s dedication to the development of theoretical thinking, via theoretical (scien-
tific) knowledge historically created and recognized as a fundamental prerequisite
for the development of subjects (Davidov, 1988), both those who learn and those
who teach.
Moura (2001) explains that being a mathematics teacher encompasses two
dualities to be considered.
The first, that of being a teacher, describes teaching as a profession that deals with a specific
understanding, deemed as pertinent to be taught at school, of how to organize socially
produced education. The second is the teacher’s level of specialization. In this example,
we took a math teacher. This denotes a completely different quality than, say, a teacher of
physics.13 (Moura, 2001, pp. 147–148)

The author explains that the method of teaching is related to the nature of knowl-
edge and that the contents of this teaching can be thought of as syntheses produced by
humanity when dealing with problems—the fruits of their needs. And these syntheses
were chosen as relevant to be conveyed at a given time to allow the integration of
new subjects into the dynamics of the group to which they belong.
We can regard mathematical knowledge as a cultural heritage historically
produced by humanity, and, as such, using it promotes the development of higher
psychological functions. However, as previously said, we are not referring to any
knowledge, but rather to theoretical knowledge.
Our theoretical assumptions explain that there are two types of knowledge (empir-
ical and theoretical) directly associated to two lines of thinking (empirical and
theoretical).
As stated by Davidov (1988), empirical concepts do not reveal the object’s internal
and essential connections as they are based on common attributes, sensory experi-
ences, and are presented in everyday life. Even though empirical generalization is

13“A primeira, a de ser professor, identifica-o como uma profissão de quem tem um certo conhec-
imento sobre o modo de organizar o ensino produzido socialmente e tido coo relevante para ser
veiculado na escola. A segunda é a especificidade do professor. Ele, nesse caso, é professor de
Matemática. Isso significa uma qualidade muito diferente daquela que é ser um professor de Física,
por exemplo.”
11 The Math Club as a Learning Space for Teachers: Guiding Principles … 195

significant, it is only the first step in the knowledge process because it only identifies
common aspects of the object in each specific and concrete instance. These common
aspects are primarily the result of observation and perception, most frequently from
a comparison of related facts or individual properties. Empirical knowledge, also
known as spontaneous or everyday conceptualization, refers to ideas that are fostered
by a subject’s practical activity and in-person interaction with their environment.
Davidov (1988) also points out that teaching with a predominance of the intu-
itive approach, in the utilitarian and empirical dimension of knowledge, is vital for
everyday activities, during the completion of regular labor actions, but it is insufficient
to assimilate the authentic spirit of contemporary science.
In contrast to empirical thinking, the essence of theoretical thinking formation
processes “is a specific procedure through which people focus on comprehending
things and occurrences through the analysis of their origin and growth” (Davidov,
1988, p. 6). Theory-based thinking, in other words, “constitutes a type of thinking
that aims to recreate the essence of the object studied in the course of the formation
of mental actions that occurs in the intentional process of teaching for development”
(Davidov, 1988, p. 10).
According to Kopnin (1978, p. 153), the theoretical thinking reflects the internal
relationships of the object, and its laws of motion are accessible through rational
development and a system of data abstractions from empirical knowledge. The
distinction between the two is up to a certain point conditional because “the empirical
becomes the theoretical and, on the other hand, what at one stage of the development
of science was thought to be purely theoretical becomes empirically accessible at a
later stage” (Kopnin, 1978, p. 153).
It is worth mentioning that theoretical (or scientific) conceptions as we know
them now were historically formed with the involvement of diverse civilizations,
addressing diverse needs, in diverse public, economic, political, and cultural situ-
ations. Understanding a notion, object, or phenomena requires knowledge of its
logical-historical movement, which explains the links between its elements and
demonstrates its internal connections.
So, knowing that mathematical ideas were historically shaped by human needs is
important because it helps teachers organize their lessons in a logical and historical
manner, which in turn helps students comprehend the historically logical path of
knowledge creation. The connection between the logical and the historical, as Kopnin
(1978) explains it, enables comprehension of the object’s essence.
By historical, we mean the object’s changing process, the stages of its emergence and devel-
opment. The historical acts as an object of thought, a mirror of the historical, and a content.
Thought seeks to reproduce the actual historical process in all its objectivity, complexity,
and contradiction. The logical is the technique by which mind fulfills this duty, but it reflects
the historical in a theoretical form, that is, it is the replication of the essence of the object
and its history in the system of abstractions.14 (Kopnin, 1978, pp. 183–184)

14“Por histórico subentende-se o processo de mudança do objeto, as etapas do seu surgimento e do

seu desenvolvimento. O histórico atua como objeto do pensamento, o reflexo do histórico, como
conteúdo. O pensamento visa a reprodução do processo histórico real em toda a sua objetividade,
complexidade e contrariedade. O lógico é o meio através do qual o pensamento realiza esta tarefa,
196 A. R. L. V. Lopes et al.

From what has been shown, we infer how important it is for methodological
proposals to have the history of conceptualization as a guiding factor, embodied in
effective learning situations that bring the concept’s essence with them. But “the
history of mathematics that incorporates situations to sparkle learning is not the
factual history, but the history that is impregnated in the concept, given that the
concept tries to meet a historically positioned human need” (Moretti, 2007, p. 98).
In this approach, the activity of teaching mathematics will “allow the professor and
the student to perceive this science as a human product” (Rigon et al., 2010, p. 148)
and, from this perspective, the acquisition of knowledge, in this case mathematics,
will promote the development of both the student and the teacher.
Overall, considering that the application of theoretical knowledge is one of the
key components for the development of the subject’s potentiality and that the logical-
historical movement should guide the organization of teaching, presupposes the fact
that teachers, each of them in a formative process, need to experience opportunities
to advance their theoretical thinking through mathematical knowledge. In this way,
they can absorb pertinent aspects for the intentional organization of their teaching.

11.3 A Provisional Overview

We give some ideas that have shown to be beneficial in directing our activities in
connection to the educational processes in which we are involved, so we can have
a discussion on how math teachers are trained. With the intention of bringing about
changes in pedagogical action to better benefit students, the discussion was grounded
on the notion that not any process that involves teachers qualifies as formative, just
the ones that successfully promote knowledge acquisition among teachers.
We sustain that the formative processes will become training activities for teachers
solely when they are implemented in accordance to their formative needs, which
implies the commitment of training institutions and, mainly, of trainers to collec-
tively devise the courses, programs, projects, or actions for and along with teachers.
We emphasize how important it is for teachers, during their training activities, to
consider the school as the place organized for the appropriation of human culture.
This also involves assuming their role in organizing actions that allow their students
to appropriate this culture, fostering their development. To that end, it is critical
that educational processes consider how the appropriation of theoretical knowledge
related to mathematics—which reflects its logical-historical motion—can enable the
development of both the teacher and the student. We also draw the conclusion that
not just any teaching will result in development and that an organization guided by
intentionality, aimed at transforming the teaching activity into a learning activity, is
needed.

mas é o reflexo do histórico em forma teórica, vale dizer, é a reprodução da essência do objeto e da
história do seu desenvolvimento no sistema de abstrações”.
11 The Math Club as a Learning Space for Teachers: Guiding Principles … 197

Finally, we argue that sharing is essential for understanding pedagogical activity

because teachers appropriate new knowledge by interacting with other subjects who
have the same need of learning how to teach.
We state that the principles described are held as a premise and a product of the
formative processes. They are a premise when they guide the actions of the process
organization and become a product when they materialize in the teachers’ learning.
We also clarify that the principles listed are derived from the theoretical founda-
tions on which we rely, specifically those related to cultural-historical theory. Further-
more, we agree with the ideas of other colleagues who are members of the groups
in which we participate, because they help us understand that formative processes
should not only lead to the appropriation of knowledge related specifically to the
performance of educators, but should also allow them to shape working conditions
so that they can establish themselves as agents of their knowledge—built with others.
Lastly, we acknowledge that the discussion of these principles presented here
is not over, not only due to the text’s limited space, but also the fact that they are
not unique, given the complexity of teacher training, in which a variety of relation-
ships and determinations occur. Also, and most importantly, because they refer to
formative processes understood as human activities, they are historically and cultur-
ally constituted to meet diverse needs that may change, but that, in our perception,
should always belong to the subjects who make them up: the teachers.

References

Cedro, W. L. (org.). (2015). Clube de matemática: vivências, experiências e reflexões. Curitiba: crv.
124p.
Cedro, W. L. (2004). O espaço de aprendizagem e atividade de ensino: o clube de matemática.
Dissertação de mestrado, universidade de são paulo, são paulo.
Cortella, M. (2000). A escola e o conhecimento: fundamentos epistemológicos e políticos. São
paulo: editora cortez: instituto paulo freire. (coleção perspectiva: 5).
Davidov, V. V. (1988). La enseñanza escolar y el desenvolvimiento psíquico. Moscú: progreso.
Franco, P. L. J., & Longarezi, A. M. (2011). Elementos constituintes e constituidores da formação
continuada de professores: contribuições da teoria da atividade. Educação e filosofia, vol.25, no
50, uberlândia.
Graven, M. (2015). Strengthening maths learning dispositions through ‘math clubs.’ South African
Journal of Childhood Education, 5(3), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajce.v5i3.342
Kopnin, P. V. (1978). A dialética como lógica e teoria do conhecimento. Tradução paulo bezerra.
Rio de janeiro: editora civilização brasileira.
Leontiev, A. (1978). O desenvolvimento do psiquismo. horizonte universitário.
Lopes, A. R. L. V. (2004). A aprendizagem docente no estágio compartilhado. Tese (doutorado em
educação) – faculdade de educação, universidade de são paulo.
Lopes, A. R. L.V., Araújo, E. S., Cedro, W. L., & Moura, M. O. (2016). Trabalho coletivo e
organização do ensino de matemática: princípios e práticas. Zetetiké, vol. 24, no 45. Campinas:
fe.
Marco, F. F., Lopes, A. R. L. V., & Sousa, M. C (2015). Projeto formativo na atividade pedagógica
do professor que ensina matemática. In: VI seminário internacional de educação matemática -
VI sipem, 2015. Anais... Pirenópolis. Sipemm pp. 01–12.
198 A. R. L. V. Lopes et al.

Martins, L. M. (2010). O legado do século xx para a formação de professores. In L. M. Martins &

N. Duarte (orgs.), Formação de professores: limites contemporâneos e alternativas necessárias,
são paulo: editora unesp; são paulo: cultura acadêmica, pp. 13–32.
Moretti, V. D. (2007). Professores de matemática em atividade de ensino. Uma perspectiva
histórico-cultural para a formação docente. Tese de doutorado em educação. São Paulo:
faculdade de educação da universidade de são Paulo.
Moura, M. O. (2000). O educador matemático na coletividade de formação: uma experiência com
a escola pública. Tese (livre docência em metodologia do ensino de matemática). São Paulo:
faculdade de educação. Universidade de são Paulo, são Paulo.
Moura, M. O. (2001). A atividade de ensino como ação formadora. In. A. D. Castro & A. M. P.
Carvalho (orgs.), Ensinar a ensinar: didática para a escola fundamental e média, são Paulo:
pioneira thompson learning, pp. 143–162.
Moura, M. O. (2021). Atividade de formação em espaço de aprendizagem da docência: o clube
de matemática. Ridphe_r revista iberoamericana do patrimônio histórico-educativo, 7(00),
e021026. https://doi.org/10.20888/ridpher.v7i00.16028
Moura, M. O., Araújo, E. S., Ribeiro, F. D., Panossian, M. L., & Moretti, V. D. (2010). A atividade
orientadora de ensino como unidade entre ensino e aprendizagem. In: M. O Moura (org.), A
atividade pedagógica na teoria histórico-cultural, Brasília: líber, pp. 81–109.
Moura, M. O., Sforni, M. S. F., & Lopes, A. R. L. V. (2017). A objetivação do ensino e o desen-
volvimento do modo geral da aprendizagem da atividade pedagógica. In: M. O. Moura (org.),
Educação escolar e pesquisa na teoria histórico-cultural. São Paulo: edições Loyola, pp. 71–99.
Paro, V. H. (2001). Escritos sobre educação. São Paulo: xamã.
Polivanova, N. (1996). Particularidades da solução de um problema combinatório por estudantes em
atuação de cooperação. In: C. Garnier; N. Bednarz & I. Ulanovskaya (orgs.), Após Vygotsky e
Piaget: perspectiva social e construtivista escola russa e ocidental. Porto alegre: artes médicas,
pp. 151–159.
Rigon, A. J., Asbahr, F. S. F., & Moretti, V. D. (2010). Sobre o processo de humanização. In:
M. O. Moura (org.). A atividade pedagógica na teoria histórico-cultural. Brasília: líber, 2010,
pp. 45–66.
Saviani, D. (1991). Pedagogia histórico crítica: primeiras aproximações. Campinas: autores
associados.
Silva, S. A. F., & Coco, D. (2017). Formação continuada de professores que ensinam matemática
na infância: reflexões conceituais e práticas. Cadernos de pesquisa, são Paulo, vol. 24, no 1. São
Paulo.
Stott, D., & Graven, M. (2013). The dialectical relationship between theory and practice in the
design of an after-school mathematics club. Pythagoras, 34(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.4102/
pythagoras.v34i1.174
Vygotsky, L. S. (1984). A formação social da mente. São Paulo: Martins fontes.
Chapter 12
The Organization of Teaching
for the Development of Students’
Mathematical Conceptual Thinking
as Content-form of the Teaching Training
Process: A Cultural-Historical
Experience in the Context of Brazilian
Public Schools

Patrícia Lopes Jorge Franco, Andréa Maturano Longarezi,

and Fabiana Fiorezi de Marco

Abstract The theme encompasses the development of mathematical conceptual

thinking from a cultural-historical experience in the context of the Brazilian public
school based on the historical-dialectical materialist method, whose theoretical-
methodological orientation favors subjects to interrelate their pedagogical and study
activities through didactic-training intervention procedure. The purpose of this text
is to discuss how the didactic organization aimed at the development of students’
mathematical conceptual thinking constitutes a content-form of development of those
involved. Results indicate that the class teacher presents the development of mental
action on teaching, offering developmental didactic elements capable of guiding
students to think and act through the essence of scientific concepts in algebra. Students
achieved a certain mastery of the means and of the logical mental actions of the
internal movement represented by the theoretical concept of functions and linear
and quadratic equations, based on the essence of the links and nexuses that compose
them.

P. L. J. Franco (B)
Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU), Uberlândia, Brazil
e-mail: patricia.franco@uemg.br
University of the State of Minas Gerais (UEMG), Ituiutaba, Brazil
Department of Education and Language (DEL-UEMG), Ituiutaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil
A. M. Longarezi · F. F. de Marco
University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil
e-mail: fabiana.marco@ufu.br
Graduate Program in Education and Graduate Program in Science and Mathematics Teaching,
Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU), Uberlândia, MG, Brazil

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 199
A. Veraksa and Y. Solovieva (eds.), Learning Mathematics by Cultural-Historical
Theory Implementation, Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical
Focus 7, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66894-4_12
200 P. L. J. Franco et al.

Keywords Mathematical conceptual thinking · Cultural-historical theory ·

Developmental didactics · Algebra learning

12.1 Introduction

It is based on the premises of the historical-dialectical method and the theoretical-

methodological elements of the cultural-historical perspective of activity and devel-
opmental didactics (Puentes and Longarezi, 2017), to discuss how the didactic orga-
nization focused on the development of students’ mathematical conceptual thinking
is constituted as a content-form of development of those involved, teachers and
students.
The topic has its genesis in a cultural-historical experience in the context of
the Brazilian public school of Minas Gerais, whose doctoral study/research was
developed with a mathematics teacher and a class of 21 students of basic level II
(EF-II), through a didactic and formative intervention, during three semesters (8th
and 9th year of basic level II).
In this study/research, we sought to understand the processes of formation and
development of teacher and student motives in pedagogical activity, particularly
in the formation of certain mathematical concepts in the field of algebra, such as:
fractional equations, linear and quadratic equations, and functions. Thus, the study
and the organization of the pedagogical activity have been related in a dialectical
way, with the purpose of grasping the didactic actions that promote the development
of the students and the teacher, in activity conditions. By activity we mean “specific
processes that exercise one or another vital, that is, active, relationship between the
subject and reality” (Leontiev, 1974, p. 43). The guiding questions of the movement
undertaken in the research were: Would it be possible to establish other relationships
in the internal structure of pedagogical and study activities with the conditions of
Brazilian public education? What didactic and formative actions would be necessary
for the constitution of more favorable relations for the development of the motives
that form the meaning of these activities?
In this chapter, in particular, we sought to present the understanding of such
questions, based on the discussion of the didactic and formative intervention move-
ment developed by the teacher with students in a public school, with the purpose of
discussing how the didactic organization focused on the development of the students’
mathematical conceptual thinking constitutes content-form of development of those
involved, in its relationship with the educational work.
For this purpose, first of all, the concept of activity, in the sense attributed by
Leontiev (1978, 2001), is developed as fundamental in the construction of what is
proposed. Then, the unfolding of the guiding questions and the new perspectives
suggested for their confrontation/surpassing are demonstrated. Then, we discuss the
method and the didactic and formative intervention, drivers of the development of
the conceptual thinking of the students and the teacher in her pedagogical activity.
12 The Organization of Teaching for the Development of Students’ … 201

Finally, signs of resistance, ruptures, and elements of the subjects’ development that
indicate the possibilities of this path are demonstrated.

12.2 The Delineations of the Meanings of the Subjects’

Activities

Alexis Nikolaevich Leontiev’s (Leontiev, 1978, 2001) concept of activity is linked to

how the human psyche develops and is determined by man’s own real-life process.
This means that the place occupied by the subject in the system of social relations
depends on the conditions in which he lives and the activity he performs.
Leontiev (1978) argues that some types of activity are more decisive in the devel-
opment of psychism, and others play a secondary role. Each stage of the development
of the psyche is determined by the subject’s dominant relationship with reality, with
the type of guiding activity peculiar to each period. Guiding activity is understood as
that which exerts psychic motor forces and not that in which the subject is involved
most of the time. From this concept, it is understood that:
[...] this activity influences the main changes in psychic processes, so that, at each stage of
psychic life, an internal contradiction arises caused by the change of place of the subject
in the system of social relations and by the change of the content of the essential activity
in this period. In activity there is a triadic relationship (subject-activity-object), constituting
historically in life in society, in the processes of collective work and human needs oriented
by purposes (Franco et al., 2019, p.707).

Recent scientific studies (Franco, 2009, 2021; Franco & Longarezi, 2011;
Franco & Sousa, 2018; Franco et al., 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018; Longarezi & Franco,
2013, 2017; Rodrigues et al., 2018; Longarezi, 2019) have revealed the split between
the social and personal meanings of teacher training actions from the perspective of
the subjects of the process themselves. These studies, guided by a cultural-historical
approach to the activity (Puentes; Longarezi, 2017), show that the reasons for the
schism are usually due to the non-satisfaction of the formative needs in the object of
the action, because the content and the forms (the mediating instruments) in many
of these formative actions do not correspond. According to Franco, Longarezi, and
Marco (2019a, 2019b, p. 708), in such conditions, meanings and meanings become
contradictory.
Research (Franco, 2009, 2021; Franco & Longarezi, 2011; Franco & Sousa, 2018;
Franco et al., 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018; Longarezi & Franco, 2013, 2017; Rodrigues
et al., 2018) shows the close relationship between motives, needs, and objective
and subjective conditions of pedagogical activity that does not correspond, with a
strong impact on the composition of teachers’ motives (Franco et al., 2019). There-
fore, the Brazilian reality is paradoxical: In many cases, municipal and state secre-
tariats of education offer training actions to teachers in the same proportion as their
dissatisfaction with the conditions and contents of what is offered is accentuated.
202 P. L. J. Franco et al.

In this context, how can we expect teachers to develop pedagogical practice that
allows students to develop concepts in the different areas of knowledge if they them-
selves have not been conceptually trained? Guided by this question, we argue that the
process of educating teachers and students must be situated in the terrain of human
development in social practice, and as such, work (teaching) and education (devel-
opment) must be considered as a dialectical unit. In this case, pedagogical and study
activities are considered as a unit.
Thus, it is understood that in the didactic and formative intervention procedure,
the teacher organizes his activity having in mind the students’ study activity on the
object of scientific knowledge, and as a result, the appropriation of the theoretical
concept can be produced. The content and form of this appropriation must be taken
as an object of analysis by teachers, because knowing how to guide the student to
think and act theoretically goes far beyond the transmission of school content.
According to (Petrovsky 1986, p. 292—our own translation), “[…] thinking is an
active process of the subject about the objective world in concepts, judgments, theo-
ries, etc.“. Therefore, guiding the student in this process is fundamental in school.
Furthermore, “[…] to have a concept about one or another object means to know
how to mentally reproduce its content, that is, to mentally construct it. The act of
constructing and transforming the mental object constitutes the act of understanding
and explaining it, of discovering its essence” (Davydov, 1988, p. 126—our transla-
tion). For this reason, school education should be concerned not only with knowing
whether or not students have mastered the school content they are taught, but also
with knowing whether students know how to think conceptually and how education
can contribute to this process (Franco et al., 2019).
The aforementioned authors reiterate that the problem presented in this way
strengthens the relationship between process and product and the purposes of
school education, showing that there is no separation between objective-means and
objective-end, because the objectives in school education must be interwoven. There-
fore, they can be considered as a theoretical-practical and content-form unity in the
education of teachers and students.
The theoretical-methodological approach advocated in this chapter under the
name of Obutchénie por Unidades (see more in: Longarezi, 2021a, 2021b;
Longarezi & Dias De Sousa, 2019; Franco et al., 2019), from which the confrontation
of the issues of school education in Brazil is proposed, in relation to the processes
of humanization, in view of the social practice in a concrete context. At the same
time, such an approach appears to be a great challenge for all involved, given the
complexity and depth of this type of teacher and student training, since it implies
facing contradictions, provoking confrontations, dealing with resistance and clashes
inherent to the tensions that arise from the different subjects in the different contexts
in which they are inserted.
12 The Organization of Teaching for the Development of Students’ … 203

12.3 The Research, Pedagogical, and Study Activity Unit

in the Didactic-Formative Procedure: the Investigative
Methodology

The didactic-formative intervention was developed in Brazil by researchers from

the Group of Studies and Research in Developmental Didactics and Teacher Profes-
sionalization (Gepedi), of the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU) (Ferreira,
2017a, 2017b, 2021, 2018, Franco, 2015; Franco et al., 2018; Germanos, 2016;
Longarezi, 2012, 2014, 2017; Longarezi & Ferreira, 2019; Longarezi & Moura,
2017; Sousa, 2016; Marra, 2018; Coelho, 2020; Jesus, 2022), to carry out investi-
gations with developmental didactics (Coelho, 2020; Ferola, 2016; Ferreira, 2017c,
2021; Franco, 2015; Germanos, 2016; Jesus, 2022; Marra, 2018; Sousa, 2016; Souza,
2016), based on historical-dialectical materialism and cultural-historical activity
psychology (Puentes and Longarezi, 2017). This type of didactic and formative
research and intervention implies active and creative actions of teachers, students, and
researchers in their social practices. In its essence, this procedure presents “[…] as
a final goal the development of students through the study activity (objective-mean)
[…]” (Longarezi, 2014, p. 15). It is organized in this sense:
[...] in four stages: (1) diagnosis of the education-learning-development processes in force in
the school contexts; (2) formative actions with the teachers; (3) educational actions with the
students; and (4) systematization and analysis of the guiding didactic principles of a learning
that triggers development [...]. (Longarezi, 2012, p. 19; our changes).

The research was developed in the school context and takes place in the process
of organizing pedagogical activity, and this, in turn, in the process of organizing
the students’ study. Thus, the movement of didactic and formative intervention is
constituted.
In Franco’s research (2015), an effective mathematics teacher from the municipal
public school manifests the need to identify the students’ reasons for studying or
not studying mathematics, and thus, to analyze her own pedagogical practice. Based
on the assumption that the need, in the sense attributed by Leontiev (1978), should
be of the subject and be oriented to solve some theoretical problem of his social
practice—in this case, the pedagogical activity, nothing more coherent than to infer
from the subject himself his formative need; this was, therefore, the main reason that
led to the selection of this teacher, in the development of Franco’s doctoral research
(2015):
This lack of interest really worries me. Sometimes, I demand a lot of myself and ask myself:
How am I supposed to give my classes? Isn’t it important to awaken this interest? My
colleagues often criticize me about this because I think one way and they think another way.
Some tell me to let it go, that that’s the way it is, it doesn’t matter if they are getting bad
grades, they even say that with time they [the students] will recover. But I cannot think like
that, I want to know and investigate the reason, participate a little more in the life of my
student, not only in school life. (Teacher, 2013 apud Franco, 2015, p. 115).

The teacher then identified the class of students who would participate in the
research. According to her, they were the most apathetic to study and had numerous
204 P. L. J. Franco et al.

difficulties in the area of mathematics. During three semesters, the teacher partic-
ipated in readings, studies, and dialogues on the theoretical and methodological
contribution of the cultural-historical psychology of activity (Puentes; Longarezi,
2017) in order to appropriate it for instrumentalization and objectification in her
pedagogical work. This process generated in the teacher contradictions and conflicts
in her way of organizing pedagogical activity and resistance movements in search of
overcoming them. To this end, Franco (2015) and the teacher dedicated themselves
to the study of the modes and conditions of the class, in an attempt to seek the general
mode of action of teaching, based on the cultural-historical psychology of activity
(Puentes and Longarezi, 2017), that is, in the didactic elements that drive learning
and development in a dialectical approach. Throughout the didactic-formative inter-
vention, the teacher was able to constitute new needs, in close relationship with the
motive oriented and linked to the objective content of teaching (Franco et al., 2019).
From the didactic-formative intervention, several tasks were organized to guide
students in the appropriation of the essence of the concept of fractional, linear,
quadratic equations and functions. The tasks in this system helped students to identify
the internal movements present in the constitution of the concept of fractional equa-
tion, for example: equivalence of values; range of variation; interdependence;
and transitivity relations. In the task for studying the concept of linear and quadratic
equations, actions were provided for students to reflect on the general and particu-
larized movements of the concept, such as: fluency; interdependence and equality
relations; properties of geometry and arithmetic. In the tasks for the study of
the concept of function, actions were foreseen for the students to analyze the inter-
dependence relations between magnitudes, i.e., range of variation; quantitative
regularities.
In the whole of the movement, 13 systems of study actions with the three concepts
were developed. The correlations between motive, objective, and object of scientific
knowledge in each system conducted by the students were captured through the
analysis of the reflective written and verbal records of each student during the classes,
all duly recorded and analyzed.
In turn, the teacher’s training meetings with the researcher were recorded through
audio recordings, in the researcher’s field notebook, and in the teacher’s reflec-
tive notes. From the reading and analysis of these records, objective and subjective
products of her formative process were apprehended. The data from the totality of
the teacher’s formative process, under this didactic and dialectical approach, some
analytical units were deduced: sharing/interactions; attribution of meaning; appro-
priation/objectivation, which, according to Vygotsky (1991), represent the universal-
singular-particular movement as indivisible elements of the investigated essence. In
the research, such units were evidenced by the episodes, because they reveal “[…]
the nature and quality of the actions […]” (Moura, 2000, p. 60) of the teacher.
To meet the specificities of this article, we chose to present an episode with two
scenes, in which there are some indications of the teacher’s resistance movements
and the search for overcoming them, as follows: “The difficulties of organizing the
pedagogical activity beyond the formal logic” and “The analytical thinking in the
construction of the concept”. The data from these episodes were extracted from the
12 The Organization of Teaching for the Development of Students’ … 205

training meetings (audio recorded) and from the teacher’s reflective notes (written
by her at the end of each lesson). Thus, some revealing indications of how the
actions of the analytical thinking (analysis, reflection, synthesis, comparisons on
how to form the theoretical thinking in the student, in the act of its achievement—
praxis) constituted form and content of the didactic and formative intervention were
apprehended.

12.4 The Development of Mathematical Conceptual

Thinking in its Unity with Teaching Professional
Development

The didactic and formative intervention was developed in interrelated moments: (i)
creation of collective needs arising from the theoretical and practical activity of
educational work; (ii) organization of elements of orientation and execution capable
of providing the satisfaction of collective needs (teachers and students); (iii) planning
of actions and study tasks for new appropriations and objectifications in educational
work: organization of pedagogical activity under a developmental approach; and (iv)
dialectical movements of overcoming between practice, experience, pseudo-concept
and theory, the concrete thought and the generalized, in new situations of organization
of pedagogical activity.
From the perspective of developmental didactics, “[…] the discovery of the
essence of a given concept must be carried out by the student himself, through the
actions deliberately and previously organized by the teacher” (Longarezi and Franco,
2016, p. 545). Here is a new need, constituted in the concrete reality of the teacher’s
teaching and in the context of research, through didactic and formative interventions.
What actions help students to appropriate a theoretical/scientific concept and, at the
same time, help them to develop their thinking in front of the concept, in view of its
objectification in the reality of their social practice? His pedagogical work?
In the course of the didactic-formative intervention movement, the teacher began
to be aware that it was not enough to list the school content to be worked on, and it
was not enough to explain to the students the formal definition of the concept or the
way to solve a certain mathematical situation, because it became necessary to guide
the students to develop a way of thinking about how a certain theoretical concept is
constituted (Franco, 2015; Franco et al., 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018).
In this way, the guiding elements of the psychological structure of the activity—
need, object, and motive—gradually constituted the correlations with the elements
of the execution: actions, operations, and goals, so that a new thinking and acting
could be objectified in the social practice of the teacher, and consequently, in the
learning activity of the students. The actions carried out by the teacher were: (1)
reading texts based on the cultural-historical psychology of activity (Puentes and
Longarezi, 2017), which includes concepts such as: education, learning, develop-
ment, didactics, dialectical movement, formation of mental actions; (2) planning and
206 P. L. J. Franco et al.

didactic development of study actions, including algebraic concepts (in a process

of confrontation between traditional didactics and developmental didactics); and (3)
self-evaluation (Franco, 2015; Franco et al., 2019).
In turn, within the same psychological structure of activity, the operations related
to the way such actions occurred: (1) collective and individual studies; (2) meeting to
prepare and plan the process of mental assimilation of concepts (pedagogical actions
that organize the study actions); (3) records of the meetings by the researcher; and
(4) reflective notes by the teacher on what was done.
Therefore, the objectives of these actions were: (1) to analyze the theoretical-
methodological assumptions that support the organization of the pedagogical activity
under the cultural-historical psychology of the activity (Puentes and Longarezi,
2017); (2) to identify the theoretical-methodological assumptions of developmental
didactics in the study actions; and (3) to organize the process of formation of mental
actions to be performed by the students, according to these assumptions (Franco,
2015; Franco et al., 2019).
It is noted that the description of the functioning of the movement of this internal
psychological structure of pedagogical activity aims to contribute to the forma-
tion of active and creative subjects of their own development. Always mediated
by theoretical-methodological references and by social practice, aiming at the most
humanizing and less alienating appropriations and objectifications for teachers and
students. For Leontiev (1978), when the need is satisfied in the object, it is at a qual-
itatively ascending psychological level; therefore, the objectified need is understood
as the reason, the one that forms the personal meaning of such activity.
In order for the reader to understand how this movement took place in the peda-
gogical activity, in its unity, with the study activity, the context of the episode “The
difficulties of organizing the pedagogical activity beyond the formal logic” will be
presented with the analysis of two scenes.

12.4.1 Episode a: The Difficulties of Organizing Pedagogical

Activity Beyond Formal Logic

This episode occurs in one of the training meetings of the researcher and teacher,
whose discussion focuses on the formation of theoretical thinking in the learning of
algebra, under a cultural-historical approach. Several readings raise doubts, uncer-
tainties, and apprehensions in the teacher in face of what is established in the
school program. A conflicting situation is established that provokes new needs in
her teaching action and makes her look for ways to solve it.
12 The Organization of Teaching for the Development of Students’ … 207

Scene a.1 (AOE-II-Date: 10/16/2012)

Subject Dialogues
Researcher After all, how do students form the concept on this basis, from abstract to concrete?
Prof I surveyed the students about the way or manner in which they had studied, in
previous years, the equation
Did you use multiplicative principles, or addition and subtraction, multiplying,
adding, or subtracting, or did you want the direct process? How did the teacher
teach it last year? Was it all over the top like this? It was the direct one. Not me. I
explain both, for them to choose, and leave them the option to choose. Before
passing to the negative side and passing to the positive side, the exchange of signs, I
could have used the principles, but I questioned them, and they said that they
learned by the direct process “inverse properties”. I said great! For me, it is much
easier. So, what do I do? If I keep going back to last year’s principles and subjects, I
won’t be able to continue with the content…
Researcher I understand your concern, really, we have seen students continue their schooling,
going from one year to the next, without understanding the concepts, because many
times they can’t use them in other situations different from the one worked on, or
given in the classroom. That’s right, the teacher teaches the formal language, uses
the symbols of mathematics, but the students can’t understand the reason for this
use, there is a formalism of the content, the representation or the symbolic language
is overvalued in detriment of the semantic language, the one in which the student
understands the use of a certain formula by understanding the essential
characteristic of the concept that is being formed. Therefore, they themselves prefer
not to change either
Prof You know, if the teacher doesn’t comply with what is established in the CBC
program, if he doesn’t work with everything in the textbook, he is not considered a
good teacher. The systemic evaluations also require compliance with the content.
You know that within the school, among parents and even among co-workers, there
is a culture of comparing what each one develops in the classroom, to what extent
this or that content has been worked. The notebook where the student records what
was done in the classroom is a reason for comparison for certain parents and
supervisors. So, there is a pressure from the educational system, the school, parents
and colleagues that it is difficult…
Researcher Well, let’s think about what is in these documents. Themes, content, skills,
objectives are determined, but there is no didactic-methodological concern. Who is
responsible for this decision? The teachers! But based on what principles does the
teacher make this choice?
Prof Generally, based on the material we have, the textbook and the CBC, and
day-to-day experience in the classroom
Prof And how does the textbook approach the content? What teaching methodology? As
we can see, in this adopted textbook, it is taught in formal language, by mechanical
training of the rules and resolution forms, without any active action by the student,
without a methodology that helps the student to think about the concept. Do you
think students would be able to act in a different way than this?
Prof Yeah, in this class we have middle and upper middle-class students coming to
school with the intention of playing, because they know that afterwards their
parents will hire a private teacher to solve their difficulties… So, they don’t get too
involved, they don’t ask questions about what they don’t know, and this makes it
difficult for the teacher. But I think we can try…
(continued)
208 P. L. J. Franco et al.

(continued)
Subject Dialogues
Researcher Let’s try to go from semantic language to symbolic language, with understanding
of what you are doing. This is the didactic principle. How to get to this point? It
requires teaching methodology. We will try to work through the problem-solving
method, where the student will construct, with the teacher’s guidance, the
characteristics of the concepts, giving them meaning. We can think of a work
dynamic that involves the different groups and the collective to see how they are
grasping the concept, and at the same time, we can perceive the movement of the
reason before the study
Prof All of this is very difficult for me. Although I always worry about teaching well, I
confess that I hadn’t thought about how the student learns. I am confused… In my
undergraduate mathematics degree, I didn’t study this, everything was taught in a
traditional way. So, the same way I learned, I started to do it with my students,
because even in the continuing education courses there is no such concern. If the
teacher knows the content, then he knows how to teach
Sources PUENTES & LONGAREZI (2013) Theoretical Principles for a
Developmental Didactics; SCARLASSARI (2007) A study of difficulties in
learning algebra in differentiated teaching situations in 6th grade students
Source Franco (2015, p. 186–7).
This episode refers to one of the training meetings on algebra learning under
the bases of cultural-historical activity psychology (Puentes and Longarezi, 2017)
and developmental learning, prompted by the research findings of Scarlassari (2007)
and Rosa (2009). At that time, it was discussed how these two authors worked the
problem situations with the students. The operation (reading a text) and the analysis
actions performed by the teacher to “[…] raise the principle or universal mode […]”
(Semenova, 1996, p. 166) of the concept of equation at the theoretical level are
related to the object content of the activity (organization of pedagogical activity),
by the analysis of other experiences of the mode of performance (Franco, 2015;
Longarezi & Franco, 2016, 2017; Franco et al., 2019).
That textual discussion triggered in the teacher a conflicting and contradictory
situation. For when analyzing the movement of development of concepts inherent
to the field of algebra and also their social significance, as well as the level of
generalization and abstraction that such concepts involved, she realized that teaching
only the formulas of algebraic representations and their resolutions did not enable
the student to understand the internal characteristics of the concept (Franco, 2015;
Franco et al., 2019).
All this generated the teacher a lot of discomfort and feelings of contradiction with
his way of teaching, because although he had always explained the use of the formula,
he had never thought about how the student appropriated theoretical concepts. That
is, she had never thought about how he could teach them to mentally operate on the
internal movement present in this formula, in the theoretical concept under study,
because, according to his point of view,
The student will only assimilate if the teacher has the patience to teach [...] As for teaching,
I think it is a program that I have to comply with, the content is the planning of the concepts
12 The Organization of Teaching for the Development of Students’ … 209

themselves, and the development is that I can develop in the classroom the minimum so that
my student learns (Teacher, 2012, apud Franco, 2015, p.166).

The excerpt shows that her conceptions of education, learning, and development
clashed with the assumptions of cultural-historical psychology of activity (Puentes;
Longarezi, 2017) and developmental didactics. This contradiction placed her in front
of a conflicting problem that she needed to address, given her need to understand how
this mode of acting would be and the need to comply with the curriculum program
of the school context. “[…] So, what do I do? If I keep going back to last year’s
principles and subjects, I won’t be able to proceed with the content” (Teacher, 2012,
apud Franco, 2015 p. 188).
Her argument revealed how, in schools, the pedagogical concern often focuses
more on learning the curricular contents than on the process of guiding the student
to operate mentally with the concepts. In this case, the teacher was faced with a
didactic and formative problem that only her knowledge and teaching experience
were no longer enough to help her overcome this contradiction.
At that moment, it was understood that the exchange and interaction between
the teacher, the researcher, and the concrete reality favored the formative movement.
In this context, the dialogue and the analysis of the pedagogical practice favored the
confrontation between the way of organizing the pedagogical activity, focused on
empirical and theoretical thinking. They also made it possible to relate them to the
dilemmas of the structure of the official curriculum of Minas Gerais, experienced
by teachers and students in the school. The need to think about how to organize this
process to guide the student in the theoretical appropriation of the concept began to
guide their actions in the didactic and formative intervention, throughout the research.
Therefore, the interaction between subjects who share together their problems can
allow them to establish common goals to solve them (Franco et al., 2019).
In this movement, the emergence of a teaching need has been noted, guided by
an internal interest related to the content and purpose of education: the didactic and
intentional organization of pedagogical activity aimed at development. This element
can promote the attribution of a personal meaning to the social meaning of the
pedagogical activity, not as an end in itself, but as a necessary condition for the
students to be involved (to have motives) and to develop thinking and new attitudes
toward the object to be known. This aspect can be seen in the following excerpt from
the teacher:
[...] After this reading I organized a class (with another class of students not participating
in the research) talking initially about this movement of algebra in life, relating it to the
corporeal limit of man, to dance, to the movement of things in the world, in the universe
(Teacher, 2012 apud Franco, 2015, p. 193).

The didactic and formative intervention enabled the shared activity and awakened
the teacher’s view to the internal aspects of the learning method, highlighted by
Klingberg (1978, p. 292), as those procedures and logical operations are more likely
to boost the creative and independent activity of students. Thus, in the conscious and
voluntary mastery of the way of organizing the process of forming mental actions in
210 P. L. J. Franco et al.

the students, the teacher was gradually able to develop psychically and exercise her
creative potential at work, in her pedagogical practice. Still according to the teacher.
In the mathematics undergraduate course, I didn’t study this, everything was taught in a
traditional way. So, the same way I learned I started to do with my students, because even
in continuing education courses there is no such concern. If the teacher knows the content,
then he knows how to teach (Teacher 2012 apud Franco, 2015, p. 190).

In particular, it can be seen that if the conflict generated in this context was
not mediated by the internal characteristics of the concept, those can form the
teacher’s theoretical thinking about developmental learning, and if it was not devel-
oped through actions, logical and abstract forms of this type of thinking, it could only
result in the mechanical reproduction of this information. The words spoken by the
teacher show this internal process of formation of her conceptual thinking, about her
pedagogical activity, which is focused and oriented on a certain type of mathematical
conceptual thinking of the students: “[…] It is interesting to see that the examples she
uses in this research are intended to help the student understand the meaning of this
symbolic language used in equations” (Teacher, 2012, apud Franco, 2015, p. 192).
The teacher began to identify in herself her own movement to form conceptually
a new approach to education, the actions taken and necessary to appropriate this
theoretical perspective. Then, she experienced the process of revising the knowledge
and mathematical concepts acquired during her educational and professional career.
From the perspective of a teacher:
I know that many things that I have taught until today were very mechanical. But we were
educated that way. I didn’t learn to think about the concept and much less teach the student
to do this. We see that the Greeks didn’t think like that. Why is it so difficult for the student
to understand the symbolic language of the equation? (Teacher, 2012 apud Franco, 2015,
p. 205).

It is observed that the teacher began to become aware of both her alienating
conditions in front of the theoretical concept and her potential to overcome them:
“[…] So they need to understand that an equation represents a situation of equality,
equivalence, and that there is also another very important characteristic, the field of
variation” (Teacher, 2012 apud Franco, 2015, p. 195).
The theoretical and methodological studies of cultural-historical psychology of
activity, linked to the needs of learning mathematics, function mediating tools
between the reality experienced in the teacher’s classroom and the object of knowl-
edge. In Franco’s research (2015), it was argued that this double movement, practical-
theoretical and theoretical-practical, with studies of cultural-historical psychology of
activity and pedagogical work conducted inside and outside the classroom, helped
the teacher to attribute new meanings to the social meanings of the educational
processes. This movement made common activity possible and, it seems, awakened
the teacher’s view to the internal aspects of the learning method, as Klingberg (1978,
p. 292) points out.
The formative meetings were constituted as an operation and were not exhausted
in themselves, because they began to compose another relationship with the actions
necessary for the organization of the pedagogical activity. Among them, analysis,
12 The Organization of Teaching for the Development of Students’ … 211

reflection, synthesis of the general mode of action with theoretical concepts that
began to be actively conducted by the teacher during the didactic and formative
procedure. These actions, developed in a participatory way and through the collabo-
rative elaboration of pedagogical activities, offered the conditions for the teacher to
form new relations with the students.
The next scene A 1.2 of the same episode A, “The difficulties of organizing
the pedagogical activity beyond the formal logic”, showed how, through certain
operations, new formative needs emerged that triggered new actions in order to
achieve certain objectives. This systemic movement correlated with the object of
the study activity: organizing the process of forming mental actions and developing
meanings.

Scene A1.2 (AOE-II Date: 25/10/2012)

Subject Dialogues
Prof After this reading I organized a class (with another class of students not
participating in the research) talking initially about this movement of algebra in
life, relating it to the corporeal limit of man, to dance, to the movement of things in
the world, in the universe. I gave the example of the classroom as a universe. So, if
we want to find out in this universe the number of students in each of the four rows,
we can think of a variation field of this situation (the possibilities, the variable), we
can also call x, or unknown quantity, that which we don’t know, or that which we
want to find out about this universe, this totality. So, we went on building the
equation, it was a very productive class, they loved it…
Prof Will we have to use many lessons with this class to work on this concept? Will we
have enough time in the fourth semester to finish all the content that is in the book?
You know how these things are inside the school… The students compare what
each teacher is working on in class or not, and the parents also demand this
Researcher Students will construct the concept you are wanting to demonstrate, but in another
way, where students can give meaning to a given situation involving the equation
What do you think about thinking about developing a problem situation where they
can represent reality and assign meaning to it, putting students inside the situation,
making them think about meaning of equation?
Prof Once I tried to demonstrate the equation by means of the tug-of-war game situation
representing the equivalence and equality issue of the situations. But in the end, I
don’t think that was very helpful. They liked it, but soon forgot about it
Researcher This exemplifies the need to develop specific actions of analytical thinking, which
does not stop at the external appearance of the concept, only at perception, but goes
beyond it, seeking to analyze its essence. Therefore, the logical actions will help
the student to do this, by the analysis and reflection of what is part of this concept,
what makes it be, what it is. So, what do you think about first designing a problem
situation where he can think and try to solve it by himself, individually using
another language to express the movement, without using the formal language of
algebra?
Prof Yeah, because of these textbook problems I don’t think we are going to find what
we want; they are not going to meet this objective. So, they need to understand that
an equation represents a situation of equality, equivalence and that there is also
another very important characteristic, the variation field
(continued)
212 P. L. J. Franco et al.

(continued)
Subject Dialogues
Researcher Let’s look at these examples of activities used in Scarlassari’s research (2007)
“write equations in symbolic language from rhetorical language”, that is, represent
the situation in another way without using formal mathematical representation.
Another example: “pass into mathematical, rhetorical, formal language the
movements below”; here the teacher’s intention was to pass the idea of the
movement present in the situations
Prof It is interesting to see that the examples used by her in this research are intended to
help the student understand the meaning of this symbolic language used in
equations
Researcher Let’s think about a problem situation in the dynamics individual; group;
group-class so that the students build the concept through the movement of the
actions they are doing
Prof Well, I think that based on what we are studying here, I don’t see much sense in the
lesson that I prepared before, you know, in that formal way without meaning,
mechanically. I don’t know now what I’m going to do until I start the intervention
I’m thinking that I’m going to work with the students on the symbology that
involves the concept of equation, I’m going to work on the meaning of the theory
with them, starting from what they will need to understand the internal
characteristics of the equation. I think that they were, and I too, acting very
mechanically. So, I will get from themselves what they already know, even if they
have seen it in a mechanical way
Researcher They need to be able to identify the internal characteristics that define the concept:
what it is that defines an equation to be an equation and not something else, and
then understand the formal language
Prof Students really enjoy looking for answers to challenges and comparing. For
example: In that equation given in the book, who would have thought that from
fractions, equations that are so different, we would really get to what the
understanding of equation is: the equivalence between situations. It can be
represented differently, but at the same time, it represents equality. I’m going to try
to work out some problem situations in that approach
Researcher What do you think about talking to the students, before we start the intervention,
about the movement we are going to make with them, so that together we can
define what we are going to need to achieve mastery of the concepts, establish
objectives and goals, define our actions (teaching) and their actions (study/
learning), so that everyone (students and parents) can identify the relationship of
what we are going to establish in this movement with the school program, and the
contents that are in the textbook. That is, to collectively build a roadmap to guide
our actions, so that not only we know the path, but also, they and their parents can
follow what we are going to do to achieve our goals
(Texts: Scarlassari (2007) and Rosa (2009) Learning 2nd degree equation—An
analysis of the use of developmental learning theory; LIMA, Luciano; Takazaki,
Mário; Moisés, Roberto P. Equations: the movement particularizes, Belenzinho.
[n.n])

Source Franco (2015, p. 192–3).

Such shared and individual syntheses opened paths to the understanding of
conceptual nexuses, understood “[…] as a link between ways of thinking the concept”
12 The Organization of Teaching for the Development of Students’ … 213

(Sousa, 2004, p. 53). The aforementioned author states that fluency, variation field,
and variable are the nexuses that form the concept of algebra.
In this path, Franco (2015, p. 269) clarifies:
[...] in the case of the concept of ‘function’, the student appropriated the essence of its
movement, starting from its general features (interdependent relations between two quantities
that vary, and quantitative regularity), and from these he managed to extract its particular
features (movement between the dependent and independent variables, the type of quantity
to which they refer: segment or area). Considering Vygotsky’s assumptions (2001, p. 269),
we understand that for most students, these concepts developed in the field of algebra,
mediated by previous generalizations of arithmetic and geometry. This happened because
the logical operations with these concepts are seen as particular cases of a more general
concept (Algebra), and the logical operation of thinking with them, in this case, will occur
more freely.

In Franco’s research (2015), it was observed that in the field of algebra, the teacher
first had to understand and appropriate the essence and the connections of the concept
and then guide her students in this theoretical appropriation. From the indications
presented in the episodes, the teacher was able to make movements of theoretical
appropriation about teaching, in its didactic and formative elements, although in the
midst of contradictions, curricular limitations, and educational legislation in force in
the country, as well as in the socio-cultural conditions of the students.
As a result of the didactic and formative intervention developed with the teacher
and the students, some didactic actions were identified, which promoted the devel-
opment of the subjects, which, in a way, help to compose the discussion of teacher
and student training as a theoretical-practical and content-form unit. Within the
framework of the conducted research, some didactic actions have been taken:
1. Organize teaching by providing students with the conditions, the tools of culture
and the modes of logical and specific mental actions, with a view to the
appropriation of theoretical concepts.
2. Analyze the concept, discover its essence, its internal logic to establish purposes
and plan the actions that enable both guidance and regulation of the process, in
a clear and active way by the subject in training itself.
3. To promote the autonomy and creation of the teacher in front of the analysis
processes of his or her pedagogical practice, that is, in front of the preparation
and organization of a teaching that promotes development.
4. Consider the system of relationships in the school context and the interests that
arise from this field, which affect the cognitive, volitional and affective aspects
of the subjects (Franco, 2015, p. 274).
The didactic actions cannot be seen as a prescription or technique: They consti-
tute results learned from the movement conducted with certain subjects, which high-
lighted as a starting point the knowledge, experience and life of the teacher and
students, historical subjects in a specific school and cultural context. By consid-
ering this starting point, the didactic-formative intervention triggered the teacher’s
confrontation movements with herself, with reality and with theory, to overcome
the dichotomy between being and essence, in the propitious space of schooling and
humanization, the school.
214 P. L. J. Franco et al.

12.5 Final Considerations

In this text, we have tried to discuss the formation of mathematical conceptual

thinking of a teacher and a student, as a theoretical-practical and content-form unit, as
well as to understand under which conditions it would be possible to establish other
relations in the internal structure of pedagogical and study activities in Brazilian
public school contexts, having in mind the development of new meaning-forming
motives, as oriented by the Leontievian conception. It is noteworthy that the didactic
and formative intervention was mediated by scientific concepts about teaching in its
relation to educational work. In other words, this process was constituted considering
the unit of education-learning-development. The confrontations and conflicts about
the process of scientific knowledge, coming from formal logic and dialectical logic,
led the teacher to search for referents, aiming at the formation and development
of new forms of conceptual thinking. This, in turn, was constituted in the sense of
theoretical-practical and content-form unity in the education of teachers and students.
These dimensions did not exclude each other in the process, but operated differently
among themselves, in a movement that took place from the abstract to the concrete,
in a dynamic and dialectical relationship.
The teacher’s analytical actions on the research developed in the field of math-
ematics, specifically in the learning of algebra, based on developmental didac-
tics, cultural-historical psychology of activity, historical-dialectical materialism and
classroom reality, provided its materialization in the process. This materialization
occurred through the activity itself (pedagogical work), through the interactions
between subjects, theory, and reality. In such a way that this action, articulated with
the verbalization actions about the objectives of the pedagogical activity and the
research, favored the moments of synthesis and theoretical appropriations, having in
view a more humanizing objectifications of herself and her students in the concrete
reality of the classroom. When, in the didactic and formative intervention, the teacher
took her own pedagogical practice (its material form), as well as the representation
she had of it (its materialized form), she was able to think and reflect on it concep-
tually. This allowed the teacher to constitute instruments to put herself in a state of
activity that put her in a process of rupture-development.

Acknowledgements The text presents data from research conducted with the support of the
National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the Basic Education Obser-
vatory (OBEDUC), the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes),
and the Foundation for Research Support of the State of Minas Gerais (Fapemig).
12 The Organization of Teaching for the Development of Students’ … 215

References

Alvarado Prada, L. E. (1997). Formação participativa de docentes em serviço. Cabral Editora

Universitária.
Alvarado-Prada, L. E., Freitas, T. C., & Freitas, C. A. (2010). Formação continuada de professores:
Alguns conceitos, interesses, necessidades e propostas. Diálogo Educacional, Curitiba, 10(30),
367–387.
Coelho, G. M. (2020). de S. Trabalho docente e atividade pedagógica: a prospecção da liberdade-
felicidade na trama da formação contínua do Campus Amílcar Ferreira Sobral (CAFS) [Tese de
Doutorado]. Uberlândia: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação. Universidade Federal de
Uberlândia.
Davydov, V. V. (1988). La enseñanza escolar y el desarrollo psíquico. Moscú: Editorial Progreso.
Ferola, B. C. (2016). Contribuições para a didática desenvolvimental no ensino médio: ações
didáticas para a formação de conceitos científicos em biologia. 2016. 74 f. Trabalho de conclusão
de curso (Licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas)—Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uber-
lândia.
Ferreira, I. M. S. (2017c). A intervenção didático-formativa no campo da pesquisa em didática
desenvolvimental. In: Caderno de Resumos Colóquio GEPAPE, Goiânia: UFG/GEPAPE.
Ferreira, I. M. S. (2017b). Intervenção didático-formativa: uma possibilidade metodológica no
campo da pesquisa em didática. In: Encontro Estadual de Didática E Prática De Ensino, Goiânia.
Anais [...]. Goiânia: IF Goiano.
Ferreira, I. M. (2017a). Aprendizagem e desenvolvimento infantil na perspectiva da didática desen-
volvimental. Uberlândia: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação: Universidade Federal de
Uberlândia, (Projeto de pesquisa não publicado).
Ferreira, I. M. S. (2018). A intervenção didático-formativa na pesquisa em didática desen-
volvimental. Colóquio Internacional Ensino Desenvolvimental: Sistema Elkonin Davidov, 4,
Uberlândia. Anais [...]. Uberlândia: EDUFU.
Ferreira, I. M. (2021). Formação de professores e desenvolvimento da personalidade na infância:
uma intervenção didático-formativa com professoras da Educação Infantil. Uberlândia:
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação. Universidade Federal de Uberlândia. (Tese de
Doutorado).
Franco, P. L. J. (2009). Significado social e sentido pessoal da formação continuada de professores: o
caso de Ituiutaba/MG. 231 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Educação)—Universidade de Uberaba,
Uberaba.
Franco, P. L. J., Longarezi, A. M., Marco, F. F. (2015). Organização do ensino de matemática
como conteúdo e forma do processo formativo à luz da teoria histórico-cultural. In: Congresso
Nacional De Educação, 12, Curitiba. Anais [...]. Curitiba: PUCPR, p. 2507–2521.
Franco, P. L. J. O (2015). desenvolvimento de motivos formadores de sentido no contexto
das atividades de ensino e estudo na escola pública brasileira. 363 f. Tese (Doutorado em
Educação)—Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia.
Franco, P. L. J., Longarezi, A. M., Marco, F. F. (2016). Organização do ensino de matemática na
perspectiva histórico-cultural: um processo didático-formativo. Zetetiké, Campinas, v. 24, n. 45,
p. 127–140, https://doi.org/10.20396/zet.v24i45.8646533
Franco, P. L. J., Longarezi, A. M., Marco, F. F. (2018). Fundamentos teórico-metodológicos de ações
didático-formativas no contexto da docência em matemática. In: CYRINO, M. C.C. T. (org.).
Temáticas emergentes de pesquisas sobre a formação de professores que ensinam matemática:
desafios e perspectivas. Brasília: SBEM, p. 174–190.
Franco, P. L. J., Longarezi, A. M., Marco, F. F. (2019). A unidade teórico-prática da intervenção
didático-formativa no contexto da docência. In: Ciênc. Educ., Bauru, v. 25, n. 3, p. 705–723,
Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1590/1516-731320190030002
Franco, P. L. J., Souza, L. M. A., Ferola, B. C. (2019). Princípios didáticos e movimentos para uma
“Obutchénie por unidades”. Linhas Críticas, Brasília, v. 24, ahead of print, p. 475–497, https://
doi.org/10.26512/lc.v24i0.19820
216 P. L. J. Franco et al.

Franco, Patrícia L. J. (2021). Desenvolvimento dos motivos formadores de sentido de professores

e estudantes em conceitos matemáticos no ensino fundamental. In: Puentes, R. V.; Longarezi,
A. M. Enfoque histórico-cultural e teoria da aprendizagem desenvolvimental: contribuições
teóricas e práticas na perspectiva do Gepedi. Phillos Editora.
Franco, P. L. J., & Longarezi, A. M. (2011). Elementos constituintes e constituidores da
formação continuada de professores: Contribuições da teoria da atividade. Educação e Filosofia,
Uberlândia, 25(50), 557–582.
Franco, P. L. J., Longarezi, A. M., & Marco, F. F. (2017). Motives in Brazilian school educa-
tion according to the cultural historical perspective and the developmental education approach.
Nauchnyi Rezul’tat: Seriya Pedagogika i Psikhologiya Obrazovaniya, Belgorod, 3(3), 51–57.
Franco, P. L. J., & Sousa, W. D. D. (2018). Didáticas específicas à luz da teoria histórico-cultural.
Obutchénie, Uberlândia, 2(2), 302–313.
Germanos, E. (2016). Contradições como força de mudança: o processo de formação contin-
uada de professores do ensino médio enquanto potencializador da práxis transformadora à luz
da teoria histórico-cultural. 330 f. Tese (Doutorado em Educação)—Faculdade de Educação,
Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia.
Jesus, S. F. (2022). Formação continuada com gestores pedagógicos a partir da perspectiva da
Obutchénie por Unidades: uma análise na abordagem de L. I. Bozhovich [Tese de Doutorado].
Uberlândia: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação. Universidade Federal de Uberlândia.
Klingberg, L. (1978) Introducción a la didáctica general. La Habana: Editorial Pueblo y Educación.
Leontiev, A. N. (1974) Problemas del desarrollo del psiquismo. 2. ed. La Habana: Editorial Pueblo
y Educación.
Leontiev, A. N. (2021). Atividade. Consciência. Personalidade. Bauru: MireVeja.
Leontiev, A. N. (1978). O desenvolvimento do psiquismo. Horizonte Universitário.
Leontiev, A. N. (2001). Acerca de la importancia del concepto de actividad objetal para la psicología.
In L. Quintanar Rojas (Ed.), La formación de las funciones psicológicas durante el desarrollo
del niño (pp. 15–26). Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala.
Longarezi, A. M. (2012). Didática desenvolvimental no contexto da escola pública brasileira: modos
e condições para um ensino que promova o desenvolvimento. Brasília: CAPES, (Programa
Observatório da Educação, projeto de pesquisa não publicado).
Longarezi, A. M., Franco, P. L. J. (2013). Educação escolar enquanto unidade significado social/
sentido pessoal. In: Nuances: estudos sobre educação, Presidente Prudente, v. 24, n. 1, p. 92–109.
Longarezi, A. M. (2014). Didática desenvolvimental: intervenções pedagógico-formativas desen-
volvedoras de estudantes do ensino fundamental, médio e superior. Brasília: CNPq, (Projeto de
pesquisa não publicado).
Longarezi, A. M., Franco, P. L. J. (2016) A formação-desenvolvimento do pensamento teórico
na perspectiva histórico-cultural da atividade no ensino de matemática. In: Revista Educativa,
Goiânia, v. 19, n. 2, p. 526–561.
Longarezi, A. M., Franco, P. L. J. (2017) Atividade pedagógica na unidade significado social-
sentido pessoal. In: Longarezi, A. M.; Valdés PUENTES, R. (org.). Fundamentos psicológicos
e didáticos do ensino desenvolvimental. Goiânia: EDUFU, p. 265–290.
Longarezi, A. M., Puentes, R. V. (2017) Apresentação. In: Longarezi, A. M.; Valdés Puentes, R.
(org.). Fundamentos psicológicos e didáticos do ensino desenvolvimental. Goiânia: EDUFU,
p. 7–15.
Longarezi, A. M., Moura, M. O. (2017) Intervenção didático-formativa como procedimento de
pesquisa com ensino deenvolvimental. In: Simpósio de Pós-Doutorado da FEUSP, 7. São Paulo.
Anais [...]. São Paulo: FEUSP.
Longarezi, A. M. (2017) Para uma didática desenvolvimental e dialética no contexto de escolas
públicas brasileiras. Revista Obutchénie, Uberlândia, v. 1, n. 1, p. 187–230, https://doi.org/10.
14393/OBv1n1a2017-9
Longarezi, Andréa M. (2019) Significado e sentido na atividade de estudo: uma problematização
dos motivos na estrutura da atividade. MILLER, S.; GUADALUPE, S. l. M.; KOHLER, É. C.
12 The Organization of Teaching for the Development of Students’ … 217

(Org.) Significado e sentido na educação para a humanização. Marília: Oficina Universitária;

São Paulo: Cultura Acadêmica, p. 257–290.
Longarezi, A. M., Ferreira, I. M. S. (2019) Pesquisas com formação de professores em didática
desenvolvimental: uma intervenção didático-formativa. In: LIMONTA, S. (org.). Trabalho
docente e pesquisa com professores. Goiânia: Ed. da UFG, (no prelo).
Longarezi, A. M., Dias de Sousa, W. D. (2019) Unidades possíveis para uma obutchénie dialética
e desenvolvedora. Dossiê Didática Desenvolvimental: uma abordagem a partir de diferentes
concepções histórico-culturais. Linhas Críticas. Vol. 24, p. 453–474. Disponível em: <http://per
iodicos.unb.br/index.php/linhascriticas/article/view/19815/20635> https://doi.org/10.26512/lc.
v24i0.19815
Longarezi, Andréa M. (2021b). Formação didática de professores “em” e “para” uma abordagem
desenvolvimental: um olhar a partir dos contextos soviético e brasileiro. Puentes, Roberto V.;
Longarezi, Andréa M. Enfoque histórico-cultural e teoria da aprendizagem desenvolvimental:
contribuições na perspectiva do Gepedi. Livro I, https://phillosacademy.com/enfoque-historico-
cultural-e-aprendizagem-desenvolvimental-contribuicoes-na-perspectiva-do-gepedi
Longarezi, Andréa M. (2021a) Obutchénie por unidades: uma concepção histórico-cultural de
didática desenvolvimental. Puentes, Roberto V.; Longarezi, Andréa M. Enfoque histórico-
cultural e teoria da aprendizagem desenvolvimental: contribuições na perspectiva do Gepedi.
Livro I, https://phillosacademy.com/enfoque-historico-cultural-e-aprendizagem-desenvolvime
ntal-contribuicoes-na-perspectiva-do-gepedi
Marra, José B. J. (2018) Formação de formadores de professores para e por um Ensino Desenvolvi-
mental de línguas: uma intervenção didático-formativa na educação superior em Moçambique
[Tese de Doutorado]. 147f. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação. Universidade Federal de
Uberlândia, MG, Disponível em: <https://repositorio.ufu.br/handle/123456789/23777. https://
doi.org/10.14393/ufu.te.2019.305
Moura, M. O. (2000). O educador matemático na coletividade de formação: uma experiência com
a escola pública. Tese (Livre-Docência em Educação)—Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo.
Petrovski, A. (1986). Psicología general: manual didáctico para los institutos de pedagogía. 3. ed.
Moscú: Editorial Progreso.
Puentes, R. V., Longarezi, A. M. (2017). A didática desenvolvimental: seu campo conceitual na
tradição da psicologia histórico-cultural da atividade. In: Longarezi, A. M.; Puentes, V. R.
(org.). Fundamentos psicológicos e didáticos do ensino desenvolvimental. Goiânia: EDUFU,
p. 187–224.
Rodrigues, A., Franco, P. L. J., Buêncio, J. R. (2018). Contribuições do sistema didático Galperin-
Talízina para a organização do ensino de geometria. In: Obutchénie, Uberlândia, v. 2, n. 1,
p. 193–213.
Rosa, V. M. G. (2009). Aprendizagem da equação do 2º grau: uma análise da utilização da teoria
do ensino desenvolvimental. 2009. 124 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Educação)—Universidade
Católica de Goiás, Goiânia.
Scarlassari, N. T. (2007). Um estudo de dificuldades ao aprender álgebra em situações diferenci-
adas de ensino de alunos da 6ª série do ensino fundamental. 149 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em
Educação)—Faculdade de Educação, Universidade Estadual de Campinas.
Semenova, M. A. (1996). A formação teórica e científica do pensamento dos escolares. In:
GARNIER, C.; Berdnarz, N.; Ulanovskaya, I. Após Vyigotsky e Piaget: perspectiva social
e construtivista, escola russa e ocidental. Porto Alegre: Artes Médicas, p. 160–168.
Sousa, M. C. (2004). O ensino de álgebra numa perspectiva lógico-histórica: um estudo das elab-
orações correlatas de professores do Ensino Fundamental. 2004. 250 f. Tese (Doutorado em
Educação Matemática)—Faculdade de Educação, Universidade Estadual de Campinas.
Sousa, W. D. (2016). Processos de imitação-criação como constituidores da práxis pedagógica. 2016.
343 f. Tese (Doutorado em Educação)—Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia.
218 P. L. J. Franco et al.

Souza, L. M. A. (2016). A sociologia no ensino médio: princípios e ações didáticas orientadoras

de um ensino que possibilite o desenvolvimento de adolescentes em uma perspectiva histórico-
cultural. Dissertação (Mestrado em Educação)—Faculdade de Educação, Universidade Federal
de Uberlândia, Uberlândia.
Vigotski, L. S. (1991). Obras escogidas. Tomo 1. Madri: Visor: MEC.
Chapter 13
Contributions of the Cultural–Historical
Theory to Activities for Teaching
Measures of Time and Area

Ana Paula Gladcheff, Moisés Alves Fraga, Neusa Maria Marques de Souza,
Amanda Cristina Tedesco Piovezan, and Anelisa Kisielewski Esteves

Abstract The development of the measurement concept in school depends on the

determination of the quality to be quantified. In this appropriation process, there are
three essential phases: to highlight the magnitude to be measured, to compare magni-
tudes of the same nature, and to express numerically the result of the comparison. This
article approaches the work with magnitudes that, perhaps, are considered the most
complex to be understood, especially by children: the magnitudes of time and area. It
has as its main goal to point out the elaboration and discussion of teaching situations
for the concepts of measure of time and area, revealing and quantifying the quality
they express. Based on the cultural–historical theory and from the assumptions of the
Teaching-Orienteering Activity, the purpose is to discuss a non-procedural teaching
practice that transcends the reading of hours and calendars, the application of mean-
ingless formulas, and dialogues about possibilities of development of work with
measurement in the early years of Elementary School, through the development of
learning triggering situations.

A. P. Gladcheff (B) · M. A. Fraga · A. C. T. Piovezan

University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
e-mail: anapaula.glad@alumni.usp.br
N. M. M. de Souza
UFMS, Instituto de Matemática e Estatística, Post-Graduate Program in Mathematics, Campo
Grande, Brazil
A. K. Esteves
University Anhanguera Uniderp, Campo Grande, Brazil

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 219
A. Veraksa and Y. Solovieva (eds.), Learning Mathematics by Cultural-Historical
Theory Implementation, Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical
Focus 7, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66894-4_13
220 A. P. Gladcheff et al.

13.1 Introduction

The treatment given to the learning of measure of time and area was one of the study
objects of the project “Math Education in the early years of Elementary School:
principles and teaching organization practices” (2011–2014),1 coordinated by Prof.
Manoel Oriosvaldo de Moura, Ph.D. in Universidade de São Paulo/USP, linked to
Programa Observatório da Educação (OBEDUC), and financed by Coordination for
the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES). As one of the results of
this activity, a fascicle with activities for the teaching of magnitudes and measures
(de Moura et al., 2018) was elaborated, in which one of the chapters is dedicated to
the development of time measurement and the other to area measurement.2
The movement of the actions to be highlighted here emerges from the work devel-
oped during the mentioned project and that, according to the members, represented
an important research experience that considered school as a place of formation and
learning, both for teachers of basic education and researchers. Such project was mate-
rialized as a result of partnerships established within the group GEPAPe—Grupo de
Estudos e Pesquisas sobre a Atividade Pedagógica.
Relying on the theoretical–methodological foundation of the Teaching-
Orienteering Activity (TOA), we highlight our considerations regarding the elab-
oration of teaching activities, considering aspects of human creation that develop
throughout history and the way they shape our culture. In this context, contrary to
what is expressed by an idealistic view that considers that mathematics is born from
refined thought, we understand mathematical concepts from a historical perspective,
as a result of practical needs of the social life, and, therefore, as a social object, a
knowledge in constant development (Alexandrov, 2016).
Thus, we believe in the possibility of enriching the work with the concept of
measurement of time and area in this proposition to the early years of Elementary
School, based on a “non-procedural” teaching concept and that does not have as its
unique goal the development of techniques of reading hours, filling calendars, and
area calculation only by using formulas. This conception emerges from the fact that
those techniques and formulas are only concept syntheses, logically organized, but
does not explicit the long human process of construction and the relation they have
with others concepts, evidenced by its nexus.
The central objective of this text is to discuss possibilities for organizing the
teaching of concepts of time and area measurement in the early years of schooling

1 The project constitutes itself, as a great collective, from the organization of four research centers,
located in the following institutions: Faculdade de Educação da Universidade de São Paulo (FEUSP),
Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM), Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão
Preto (FFCLRP/USP), and Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG). The teaching situations presented
here were elaborated and developed collectively by members of São Paulo’s core, at FEUSP.
2 With the work developed during the project, four e-book volumes were produced, with the general

title of “Mathematic Activities in the early years of Basic Education”. Each volume is composed
by a courseware covering the following themes: statistics, measurement (time, area, length, mass,
and volume/capacity), numbers and operations, and geometry. This material can be found at http://
www.labeduc.fe.usp.br → LABMAT → OBEDUC.
13 Contributions of the Cultural–Historical Theory to Activities … 221

through a proposal based on the perspective of the cultural–historical theory and

guided by the theoretical–methodological principles of the Teaching-Orienteering
Activity. In that regard, pedagogical intentionality is considered a fundamental
element for teaching organization and becomes essential to the educational prac-
tice, as much as the teacher’s explicitness regarding the essential elements belonging
to the concepts to be taught. Thus, the unit relationship between these two cited
elements, intentionality and mathematical knowledge, will be highlighted in the
presented activities for teaching time and area.
Based on the theoretical–methodological foundation of the Teaching-Orienteering
Activity (TOA), we highlight our considerations in relation to the elaboration of activ-
ities for teaching, considering the aspects of human creation that develop throughout
history and the way they shape our culture. In this context, contrary to what expresses
an idealist view that considers that mathematics is born of pure thought, we under-
stand mathematical concepts, in the light of the cultural–historical theory, through
a historical view, the result of practical needs of social life and, therefore, as a
social object, impregnated with the human condition. An ever-developing knowledge
(Alexandrov, 2016; Caraça, 2010).
We have the understanding that, from the beginning of schooling, when the child’s
first relationships with mathematical theoretical knowledge occur, this must be mean-
ingful to him. Its knowledge begins to expand, without forgetting what he brings
into his life story. The teacher, through the teaching activity, has as main objective
to enable the appropriation of concepts considered relevant for the formation of his
students, developing activities for the teaching of mathematical concepts based on
the perspective of a teaching that stimulates the psychic development and the abilities
human beings, as evidenced by the studies of Vygotski (1991) and Davídov (1988).
For this reason, we defend learning to be meaningful, and for that, we believe to
be necessary for the child to appropriate mathematical knowledge by doing mathe-
matics, in activity, where teaching propositions that are related to social and cultural
practices are structured, human, and historical (Moretti & Souza, 2015).

13.2 Organization and Development of the Process

in Activity

When we understand the need for a way of teaching that has, intentionally, an orga-
nization that allows the promotion of human development, we follow what de Moura
(1996, 2004, 2017) proposes as a Teaching-Orienteering Activity (TOA), under-
stood as a theoretical–methodological basis directed to the teaching and learning
processes and which is based on the perspective of the cultural–historical theory.
The theoretical–methodological principles in that proposition
[...] explicit as a unit between the teaching activity (by the teacher) and the learning activity
(by the student) in the pedagogical activity context. This activity, according to the author,
must be organized in a way that allows the interaction among the subjects that, facing a
problem situation, share the signification of necessary concepts for the problem resolution
222 A. P. Gladcheff et al.

that mobilize them to solve it (de Moura, 2012). Thus, it enables that the subjects attribute
signification to their actions during the appropriation of the social significances developed
by the humanity experience and synthesized in the concepts (Munhoz & de Moura. 2020,
p. 357).

As exposed by de Moura et al. (2010a, 2010b), the Teaching-Orienteering Activity

keeps the structure of the activity proposed by Leontiev (1978), because it presents
a need, a motive, objectives, and actions that consider the objective conditions of the
school. The option by the organization of teaching, founded on TOA’s theoretical–
methodological principles—as highlighted by Gladcheff (2015)—provides attention
to the individual differences, the particularities of the problem set in action, and
the diverse knowledge present in the educational context, which emphasizes the
responsibility of the teachers, since their intentionality is present throughout the
process. It is considered orienteering because
[...] it defines the essential elements of the educational action and respects the dynamics of
the interactions that do not always reach the results expected by the teacher. It establishes
the objectives, defines the actions, and elects the helping teaching instruments; however, it
does not hold the entire process, simply because it accepts that individuals in the interaction
share meanings that change in face of the object of knowledge under discussion (de Moura,
2012, p. 155, our translation).

The teaching situations to be presented here were elaborated and developed in the
schools by teachers of Basic Education, who participated in the teacher education
activity organized during the development of the mentioned process. They were
planned in subgroups formed inside the formation environment and guided by the
principles of the Teaching-Orienteering Activity, as the following picture illustrates.
By means of the movement systematized in Fig. 13.1, we represent how the
members of the formation movement were organized for the solution of what became
a situation problem for them: to develop teaching activities to theoretical mathemat-
ical concepts, following the principles of the Teaching-Orienteering Activity. Such
movement allows us to systematize how we work with the formation of the teaching’s
theoretical thinking, possible to be revealed in the articulation between theory and
practice, in the constitution of pedagogical praxis that involved them in a group
activity.
In the systematization previously presented, the principles that govern the
Teaching-Orienteering Activity and that served as mediating elements in the process
are present. Therefore, the group was divided into subunits from four to six members,
each one responsible for creating teaching activities for a given mathematical concept.
The concepts we discuss in this article, as previously mentioned, are the concepts of
measurement of time and area, worked by two subunits of the investigation center
of the Faculdade de Educação da Universidade de São Paulo (FEUSP).
To start working with the mentioned concepts, the teachers started their studies,
going through, themselves, collectively, the genesis that may be revealed in the history
of the concept to be worked with their students in order to identify what we understand
by conceptual nexus (or inner nexus) of the concept. Those, for their part, associate
with the logical–historical movement of the studied object, representing the essential
13 Contributions of the Cultural–Historical Theory to Activities … 223

Orienteering Activity (MUNHOZ; MOURA, 2020, p. 366)

Fig. 13.1 Movement of planning and development of teaching activities based on the principles of
the Teaching-Orienteering Activity (Munhoz & de Moura, 2020, p. 366)

aspect of the concept and, in this case, contain “the logic, the history, the abstractions,
and the formalizations of the human thinking in the process of constituting itself as
human through knowledge” (Souza et al., 2014, p. 96, our translation).
Based on the understanding of this movement, understood as the logical–historical
process of the concept, the teachers start to understand the history of mathematics
as a supporting tool for teaching and establish a new relationship with knowledge,
looking at science “as a living organism, impregnated with human condition, with
its strengths and weaknesses” (Caraça, 2010, p. vii, our translation) and historically
built as a product of social interests and needs. And it is with this conception, as an
instrument in a symbolic tool dimension, that we understand it to be necessary for
its appropriation by those who integrate the school. We believe in this possibility,
considering the interface between the history of mathematics and education, beyond
a historiographic view, searching, in the logical–historical process, the movement of
thinking in the context of the formation of the studied concept.
Thus, founded on the carried out studies, a learning triggering problem is formu-
lated as part of a learning triggering situation (LTS). The latter has a set of actions
that aims to motivate the students so the concept is put in motion in order to be appro-
priated by them. Nonetheless, it is important that the mentioned learning triggering
problem keeps the structure of a learning problem as defined by Rubtsov (1996),
by which the student, in solving it, “gets appropriated of a general mode of action,
which becomes a guiding base of the actions in different situations that surround
224 A. P. Gladcheff et al.

them, and not a practical concrete problem that, for its part, seeks modes of action in
itself and whose resolution only works in a specific, particular, situation” (Munhoz &
de Moura, 2020, p. 369).
As claimed by de Moura et al. (2018), the learning triggering situation, through the
given problem, will allow the students, when solving it, collectively, to appropriate
a form of general action that may become the guiding basis for their actions in
different situations surrounding them, and it is going to provide the appropriation of
the genesis of the discussed concept.
The genesis of the concept, in turn, is associated with the conceptual nexus under-
stood as the essential aspects of the concept and its determinants and that, in our case,
make up the concept of measure and bring the logic of the production process of this
given knowledge, according to Caraça (2010), through: identification of the magni-
tude of an object or phenomena to be measured (what is going to be measured);
comparison between the two (or more) objects or phenomenon that have the same
magnitude (establishing major and minor or equal); establishment of a common unit
of measure (or pattern) that allows quantifying the magnitude more accurately.
By emphasizing the resolution of the proposed problem in a collective way, we
base ourselves on the perspective of what Davidov (1988) and Vigotski (2009)
demonstrate when they affirm that the appropriation of theoretical knowledge in
the direction of the subject’s development is considered the essential objective in the
educational process, since, as we stated before, in order to appropriate a new concept,
the subjects first relate to it through social activities (interpsychological) and later
turn it to themselves (intrapsychological). That is, learning is in the collective.
The learning triggering situation, according to de Moura et al. (2018), may mate-
rialize itself in a game (with pedagogical purpose), a problematization of a situation
of daily life emergencies (that makes it possible for the students to face the need to
experience the solution of significant problems for them and that are in evidence)
or a virtual story of the concept (which puts children in front of a problem situation
similar to the ones faced by humankind, generally speaking). It is relevant to point
out that the virtual story of the concept is not about a factual history, but a made-up
history, with a ludic purpose, aiming to put children in the process of resolution of a
problem, that, somehow, imitates the essential characteristics of the human activity
that produced the concept. This is highlighted by Leontiev (1978) by approaching
the concept of appropriation, claiming that, for a concept to be appropriated by the
student, an activity that imitates the essential characteristics of human activity which
produced the concept is necessary.
Therefore, the learning triggering situation must
[...] contemplate the genesis of the concept, that is, its essence; it must express the need that
led humanity to the construction of the aforementioned concept, how problems and human
needs in a given activity emerged, and how humans were working out the solutions or
syntheses in their logical-historical movement. (de Moura et al., 2010a, 2010b, pp. 103–104,
our translation).

As a fundamental part of the learning triggering situation, teaching actions are

planned to guide the students to the solution it offers, setting the concept in motion
to be appropriated by them.
13 Contributions of the Cultural–Historical Theory to Activities … 225

Figure 13.1 also shows us that, as an individual action of each teacher, what was
collectively planned by the group is taken into their educational practice in order to
“modify their students’ thinking and also to learn and transform their knowledges and
themselves, in a dialectic process” (Munhoz & de Moura, 2020, p. 369). Continuing
the process, what had been experienced at school was taken to the teacher education
group in order to, collectively, reflect on and evaluate the actions made, allowing,
therefore, to make changes in the developed teaching activities.

13.3 Working with Concepts

As a result of the process, we present a synthesis of the triggering learning activities

developed for the concepts of area and time measurement.

13.3.1 Area: Measure of the Amount of Surface

The need to measure is largely present in human activity throughout history. To

control the variations of magnitudes as length, area, volume, capacity, mass, angle,
and time attributed new qualities to the various activities, such as: agriculture,
livestock, calendar elaboration, construction of containers, and location techniques
(Hogben, 1956; Eves, 2004; Fraga, 2016).
Among the mentioned magnitudes, we are going to approach the area measure-
ment, which has recordings of its determination since ancient Egypt. In those days,
it was necessary to calculate the portions of land administered by the Egyptians, for
part of the land was flooded by the Nile River, during the flood period. Thus, with
the calculation of the new area, the taxes to be paid were updated (Caraça, 1951).
In the present days, we can verify the use of area in activities such as: projecting
a building, covering the rooms of a residence, informing the size of agricultural
property, planning the use of a given surface such as lands, fabrics, and paper, among
other uses. Due to this relevance, area became one of the Basic School contents and
begins to be approached in the early years of Elementary School—as predicted by
the national curriculum documents (Brasil, 1997, 2018).
However, we observe in our teaching activity and teacher trainers that the teaching
of this area is, on many occasions, related to the length magnitude and the formula
(composed of segments of the geometric shape). That leads students to misconcep-
tions, such as considering the area a linear quantity or mistaking it for the perimeter
concept.
So, the organization of teaching does not prioritize the appropriation of area
as a magnitude that quantifies the surface, which should be central in the process
of appropriation of the concept, mainly in its introduction, in the early years of
Elementary School.
Admitting area as a magnitude, we understand it as:
226 A. P. Gladcheff et al.

[..] a quality of an object, or phenomena, that may be quantified. The quality of an object
or phenomenon can be understood as a group of relationships we establish between these
objects or phenomena. Therefore, the perception of quality is always relative to something,
a product of comparison and identification (de Moura et al., 2018, p. 5, our translation).

Thereby, the appropriation of the concept of area as a magnitude becomes neces-

sary, that is, as a quantifier of the surface. The national curriculum documents, when
dealing with magnitude and measurements, highlight that “in Elementary School—
early years, the expectation is that students recognize that measuring is comparing a
magnitude to a unit and to express the result of the comparison through a number”
(Brasil, 2018, p. 271, our translation).
Thus, for understanding the importance of measuring in basic schools, more
specifically, measuring area, we propose to highlight it as a surface quantity, based
on the cultural–historical perspective and based on the principles of Teaching-
Orienteering Activity.

13.3.2 A Learning Triggering Situation Materialized

in the Virtual Story of the “Vegetable Garden”

In a synthesized way, we present the following report, which talks about the learning
triggering situation, elaborated by the collaborative group, made up of teachers of
Basic Education, school coordinators, graduate students, and the project coordinator,
to develop the concept of area, through a virtual story.
The elaboration process started with the knowledge present in the national
curriculum documents about the teaching of area (Brasil, 1997, 2018) and research
regarding the elements about the historical–logical movement of building this concept
(Caraça, 1951; Eves, 2004).
After comprehending the genesis of the concept of area and how this magnitude
presents itself in the early years of basic school, a virtual story that proposes the
building of a vegetable garden was elaborated. In this virtual story, the learning
triggering problem presents itself in the equal division of an irregular land among
the groups of students.
The choice of a virtual story allowed the experience of constructing an imaginary
vegetable garden for schools that did not have the resources to plan a real garden;
however, in some schools, the existence of a vegetable garden is possible, so this
task may also be developed as the building of a real garden.
The learning triggering problem to be solved by the students was the equal division
of an irregular land, as shown in Fig. 13.2—this shape was determined intentionally.
The researched teaching materials, brought by the teachers to be studied in the groups,
indicated that the teaching of area often began by counting squares, associating them
to the unit of area and the row-by-column multiplication. Another reported situation,
13 Contributions of the Cultural–Historical Theory to Activities … 227

Fig. 13.2 Virtual story of the vegetable garden (de Moura et al., 2018, p. 104)

from the experience of the educators, was the recurrent association between multi-
plication and a squared design and between perimeter calculation and a highlighted
outline.
The comprehension of the calculation of area by multiplication and the association of the
squares to the unit of area are recurrent difficulties for the students. Thus, it is necessary to
develop the theoretical concept, related to the appropriation of the essence of the concept, for
studying only the questions in squared patterns does not produce a movement that promotes
a clear comprehension by the students but an empirical knowledge in which the students
solve problems based on the visualization and observation of the drawing (de Moura et al.,
2018, p. 103, our translation).

By proposing an irregular land, the intention was to make evident that, in

measuring a surface, another surface is necessary as a unit of measurement and
so unlink it from a possible relationship with its perimeter. The essence is in the
comparison of magnitudes of the same kind and, later on, counting how much a
given surface (adopted as a pattern) fits in a surface (to be measured).
In addition to highlighting the two-dimensional character of the area, the irreg-
ular shape provides a discussion of some reasons that influenced humanity to delim-
itate surfaces in polygonal shapes or their composition: ease and accuracy when
measuring.
Subsequently, we seek to emphasize the reason for the squared (square as a unit
of surface measurement) and the real meaning of multiplication (count of the unit of
measure used).
The triggering problem presented (de Moura et al., 2018, p. 104) was the
following:
We will build a vegetable garden on this land. For that, we need to divide it equally
among the groups, for each group will be responsible for taking care of a part. How
can we divide this surface so that each group has the same amount of place to plant?
The learning triggering situation was proposed for students in the early years
with the primary objective of the students choosing the way to divide the land. By
proposing the virtual story, the virtual land was presented—a cut fabric, shown in
Fig. 13.3, where the students carried out actions letting them freely, organized in
groups, choose the strategy they considered more appropriate.
228 A. P. Gladcheff et al.

Fig. 13.3 Division performed by students. The material used was cut nonwoven fabric and tape to
mark the division

When developed in a municipal school, for example, a student suggested, and the
others agreed, that each group took two portions of the land. They chose to divide
the distance of two palms, that is, performed a linear measurement. This action may
also be seen in Fig. 13.3.
The discussion, in groups, about how to solve the presented situation is one of the
essential elements to build the teaching situation from the theoretical–methodological
principles of the Teaching-Orienteering Activity. Vygotsky demonstrates that:
[...] the most significant moment in the course of intellectual development, which gives birth
to the purely human forms of practical and abstract intelligence, occurs when speech and
practical activity, two previously completely independent lines of development, converge.
(Vygotsky, 1978, p. 24).

The way in which students express the development of the solution to the posed
problem, through social interaction, allows the educator to evaluate the construction
of the concept, according to the cultural–historical theory.
After students finish the division, the teacher asks them if the division was fair,
in case the question does not come up from them, during the work. In this case,
the teachers can draw attention to the question and the group begins to evaluate the
action carried out by them. During the development of the division, students noticed
that some lands were bigger than others. They pointed out the use of the palm as a
reference as the problem and proposed to solve the issue using a ruler. By testing, they
noticed that the ruler did not help because, even though they equalized the distances
between the tapes that they used for marking the division, it did not solve the problem
of one land longer than the other.
One of the possible suggestions to be given is to cut the land, since it is made of
fabric, which is represented in Fig. 13.4. This discussion is very interesting; after all,
the task of measuring an irregular land is complex, and it was chosen for that purpose.
13 Contributions of the Cultural–Historical Theory to Activities … 229

Fig. 13.4 Land cutting suggestion given by the students (Piovezan et al., 2014, p. 759, adapted)

This is a possible historical problem that created the need to regularize formats by
drawing polygons and circles.
The teachers may interfere by saying the whole land can be put to good use for
planting, and, to compare the division performed, they need to pay attention to the
amount of land that fell to each group—to highlight the land surface, the quality to be
measured, and the teachers may run their hand over the fabric, showing the students
the totality of each group, removing the initial limitation of the distance between the
tapes.
We noticed, in dialogue with the students, indications of the appropriation of the
represented quality by the amount of surface. The search to compare with another
surface is started, and they look for objects to perform the measurement (quantify
the quality), paving the divisions of the land with books or dominoes.
Lastly, the need for everyone to use the same object arises (search for a standard
unit) to make the comparisons of the performed measurements. This is the case
represented in Fig. 13.5.
Therefore, during the development of actions planned for the learning triggering
situation, we went through the objectives of the virtual story of the garden for students
in the early years, namely: to generate the identification of the quality to be measured,
in this case, the amount of surface, to seek methods to quantify, and to generate a
need for the standard unit.
In the end, some considerations are important to be discussed in the collective:
due to the shape of the land, its equal division is not possible, just an approximation,
since a precise determination of the area is not possible; to systematize the carried
out process highlighting the area as a surface measurement; and the human need of
delineation of surfaces in polygonal or circular formats, due to the greater facility of
calculating their areas.
230 A. P. Gladcheff et al.

Fig. 13.5 Group compares

by using dominoes available
in the classroom, the group
uses books (Piovezan et al.,
2014, p. 759)

13.3.3 The Measure of Time

School, as already defended by the cultural–historical theory, is the privileged place

for the appropriation of the historically produced knowledge (Duarte, 2001; Saviani,
1991), being up to the teacher to intentionally organize the teaching, encouraging
students to advance beyond their everyday knowledge.
In that regard, when we work with the concept of measure, we need to determine
the characteristics of the object, or phenomena, we are considering, highlighting,
thus, a magnitude to be measured.
In cases in which the quality of the object, or phenomenon, may be expressed in
numbers, it means it can be measured. This argument is supported by Caraça (2010)
when indicating that, throughout measurement, humans can numerically express
the quality of an object or phenomenon. We must consider, however, that measure-
ment is always relative; that is, it only exists in the relationship between objects or
phenomena.
In our context, we bring to discussion the work with the measurement of one of the
magnitudes that, perhaps, is considered one of the most complex to be understood,
especially by children: time magnitude.
Working with the control of the variation of passage of time, that is, with the
measure of time in a meaningful way, is not an easy task for teachers, for this is an
intangible magnitude associated with processes and, therefore, is not materialized in
physical objects. To be able to measure the passage of time, it is necessary that we
do it in an indirect way, that is, by using other magnitudes.
Ponte and Serrazina (2000) explain this statement when reporting, for example,
that time can be measured through the angle traveled by the hands of a clock, by the
length that a candle burned, or by the amount of sand that fell into an hourglass.
As we can see, in these examples, we simultaneously use angle, length, and mass
magnitudes. The non-comprehension of the complexity of this concept may explain
the reasons for its teaching to be essentially based on procedural processes of time
reading and calendar filling.
13 Contributions of the Cultural–Historical Theory to Activities … 231

Through human history, we highlight, the understanding of Crosby (1999), that:

For many people, time seemed an unfractionated flow. Therefore, the experimenters and
inventors spent centuries trying to measure it, imitating its continuous passage, that is,
the flow of water, sand, mercury, ground porcelain, and so on – or the slow and regular
combustion of a candle away from the wind. But no one had ever devised a practical way of
measuring long periods through these means. The substance in motion become gelatinous,
freeze, evaporate or coagulate, either that or the candle would burn at a perversely fast or
slow pace, or it would melt – something would go wrong.
The solution of the problem became possible when stopped thinking of time as a regular
continuum and started thinking of it as a succession of quantities (Crosby, 1999, p. 85—our
translation).

This allows us to indicate that the ability to measure time does not develop until the
child realizes that the events are separated by time intervals highlighted by the above
quote, that is, as a succession of quantities. In fact, “the notion of ‘time intervals’, that
is, the space of time occupied by an activity or the time that goes from one instant
to another is a key idea that them has to realize” (Gladcheff, 2015, p. 196—our
translation).
This is an understanding that the teacher, when starting the work with a measure
of this magnitude, needs to have to enable a meaningful learning.

13.3.4 A Learning Triggering Situation Materialized

in the Virtual Story “A Problem for the Curumins”

By recognizing the relationship in which the concept is taken as a social object, devel-
oped through a human activity triggered by a necessity, it is possible to understand
that this concept may become of interest to children and, therefore, more signifi-
cant. In that regard, the students must actively participate, which will allow their
transformation, and it “does not remain only in the act of teaching/learning but for
the individual’s entire life” (Rigon et al., 2010, p. 32, our translation). Nonetheless,
this is only possible when there is intentionality and organization of the activities
of the teacher. We understand that the educational practice must be guided by the
intentionality of forming individuals in the social direction of human formation that
has the collective as a reference (Gladcheff, 2015).
The report we will do next shows, in a synthesized form, the learning triggering
situation elaborated by one of the subgroups from the collective of teachers that
participated in the teacher training activity carried out during the project mentioned
in the introduction of this text. It is a virtual story of the concept, and it was elaborated
to work time measurement separated in gaps, limited by unnatural events, and that
makes use of instruments so that it can be observed (Gladcheff, 2016).
During the development of the story, children, mediated by the teacher’s knowl-
edge and actions, can comprehend the concept of subjective time (how its passage is
felt), realize the need to control time objectively (given by an instrument of measure),
232 A. P. Gladcheff et al.

and use an instrument, significantly, to perform a measurement even if not very

precisely.
The story begins with the characters Raira, Apoema, Irani, and Raoni, who are
curumins from a tribe located in Parana and are playing near the river. Raira finds a
red feather headdress. As they did not know which animal the feathers belonged to,
they asked Apoema’s father, who informed them that they belonged to the red guara,
a rare animal in the region and a close relative of one of the sacred birds of Ancient
Egypt, the ibis of the Nile river.
The curumins wanted to play with the headdress all the time. And that was when
the problems started. They wanted to play together but there was only one headdress.
In the game, whoever had the headdress would be the chief of the tribe, so everyone
wanted to be the chief to wear the headdress. Hence the idea:
Let us do the following - said Raoni - Each one of us keeps the headdress for a
while and then hands it over to the other.
Everyone agreed and then decided the sequence of who was going to wear the
headdress: Raira, Apoema, Irani, and Raoni.
While Raira was wearing the headdress, the other children were very anxious, as
they could barely wait for their turn. But Raira did not want to let the headdress go
and always felt like she had spent little time with it.
Wow! It feels like Raira has been with the headdress for so long - said Apoema.
True, - said Irani - Soon enough it will be dark and it looks like we will not be the
chief.
Raira, then, decided to give the headdress to Apoema, who was really happy. But
as time passed, in the same way, Apoema had the feeling of having played little with
the headdress. But, to Irani and Raoni, it seemed the opposite.
We need to discuss and find a solution because Irani and I also want to be the
chief today - said Raoni, a little crestfallen.
It was indeed getting dark. At the end of the day, Raoni and Irani ended up not
wearing the headdress, not even for a bit. It was already dinner time and soon they
would all go to bed.
Raoni and Irani were really upset, for they would have to wait until the next day
to be the chief. Apoema and Irani, for their part, were happy, for they had used
the beautiful and rare object. So, what do you think happened? Why did Raira and
Apoema feel time passing so quickly and to Raoni and Irani time seemed to pass so
slowly? And how can we help the curumins so all of them can play with the headdress
on the same day?
In this intervention, it was possible to discuss situations experienced by the chil-
dren themselves in the context of subjective time. In the second question, the idea
was to make children realize, through the sharing of meanings of the concepts they
already knew, that time could be divided equally for everyone. And, in this case, it
was really important the fact that, in the fictional tribe, where the story took place,
clocks were not known by the native people.
The next morning, after much discussion, the children came to an agreement and
decided that they would share time equally.
13 Contributions of the Cultural–Historical Theory to Activities … 233

All right, then, - said Irani - Let’s share the right time each one will keep the
headdress. But how can we do that?
And so, another problem emerges to the curumins: how to share time and control
it so everyone can play with it for the same amount of time?
What do you think we can do to help the curumins
At this moment, the children could formulate hypotheses about how they could
control time, without using the modern clock. After the hypotheses are formulated
and tested, the story continues to its conclusion.
Wow! It’s difficult, isn’t it? - said Raira, lost in thoughts. Oh, listen up! How about
talking to our shaman and seeing if he can help us? I bet he has a solution for that.
Nice! - everyone shouted - Let’s go!
Once with the shaman, the children told him what had happened the day before.
The shaman said he had a solution for that. He went to the taba and came back with
a small object in his hands that had been given as a gift by a friend from the city and
put it in the children’s hands.
That is an hourglass and it is used to measure time. It will help you with that
problem.
So the curumins took the hourglass and started to handle it to find out how it could
help them to measure the time each one would spend with the headdress.
What about you? Do you know how this instrument is used to measure the passage
of time?
In order to explore and understand how the hourglass works, some types of this
instrument were taken to the classroom so that the students could explore it in the
time measurement context. Then, there was the socialization and synthesis of ideas.
According to the reports of the teachers who developed, at school, the actions
planned for the learning trigger situation, while holding the hourglass, the children
created a game called “hot potato with the hourglass.” Sitting in a circle, the hourglass
was passed by all of the children’s hands, and it should reach the end of the circle
before all the sand had gone down.
It was possible to perceive the children’s enchantment with the instrument that
was being used at that moment: the hourglass. Although they still did not have an
understanding of how they could record and identify the “amount of time” that had
passed from one moment to another, the object mobilized them in such a way as to
create a ludic practice that allows exploring the concept that, at that moment, was
in motion: time measure. The hourglass, as reported by one of the teachers, allowed
children to observe the visible passage of time when materializing in the movement
of the sand falling in the hourglass. That was how the children started to realize that
it was possible to measure the passage of time,
After the children recorded, in the form of drawings, what they had experienced
so far, a game called Bolinhas ao cesto (Balls in the basket) was used allowing them
to make conscious use of the measurement instrument proposed. The game took
place in a competition between teams of five students and balls (such as those used
in ball pits), a big basket, chalk (to delimit the space for launching the balls), and
an hourglass to measure the time of the game were used. The students of a team
positioned at the same distance from the basket, delimited with the chalk, started
234 A. P. Gladcheff et al.

to throw the balls, without crossing the line, as soon as the hourglass was turned.
The team stopped throwing when all the sand had gone down and the balls in the
basket were counted. The winning team was the one who threw, inside the basket,
the largest number of balls during the time measured with the use of the hourglass.
The experience with counting time through an instrument to regulate the rules
of the game showed that, in another situation out of the curumins’ problem, such
instrument, in this case, the hourglass, brings with it the generality of being able
to measure time in various circumstances and enables the expansion of discussions
aimed at the solution of the time of use of the headdress by curumins.
From this point, the interests also expand to another question, the precision of the
instrument used and the need for its use, in addition to the improvement presented
as an evolution of the measuring instruments present today. It becomes possible to
explore the logic present in the working of analog and digital clocks, of the structuring
and use of physical and digital calendars, and of other measurement instruments that
bring within themselves the ways of thinking and producing knowledge, that is, the
understanding of the process of meaning embodied in the objects resulting from
human doing.
In this way, the situations of experiences provided by the learning triggering situ-
ation expand the possibilities of appropriation of the concepts that are intentionally
explored in the action of a collective immersed in a context structured and designed
for that, especially mediated by instruments when considered in their essence. Such
reach demands access to higher levels of thinking with scientific knowledge as an
interface.

13.4 Discussion

An important element for the teacher to feel safe when developing teaching activities
is that he or she has clarity of the essential elements of the concept. By the presented
learning triggering situations, situations are proposed in which the students set in
motion the concept of measure, whether measure of time or amount of surface,
in which they establish comparisons (larger, smaller, or equal) and define units of
measure (number of squares placed in the space for the vegetable garden; amount of
sand in the hourglass).
When they perform time measurement, they use the hourglass properly, which,
in our understanding, allows the materialization of the origin of the concept of time
measurement and allows the child to visualize the process of passage of time from
the movement of the sand falling (Gladcheff, 2016).
In this case, students come across the need to develop actions that take to the
theoretical concept of time measurement together, collectively. This means that there
is a process of signification of the concept in the child because it takes place in the
collective. The teachers, through the questions integrated into the virtual story, put
the children in the need of the appropriation of the concept of time measurement for
the problem to be solved.
13 Contributions of the Cultural–Historical Theory to Activities … 235

In the virtual story presented, children are faced with problem situations, and
to solve them, they need the mediation constituted by the teachers’ actions and
knowledge and the material resource, in addition to interacting with their peers.
Through this, complemented by the game, children could understand that time can
be divided and that there are instruments that permit this control.
Regarding the learning triggering situation for the measurement of amount of
surface (area)—the virtual story of the vegetable garden—the students develop
actions over a cut fabric in an irregular form, which is indicated as the land where
the planting will be carried out.
It is in the experience, manipulation, and division of the land that the concept of
area is put in motion to be appropriated by the students. The land is the instrument,
mediating element of the relationship of the students with the concept, differentiating
the area from the linear measurement, and, mainly, recognizing it as the quantification
of a surface from another surface.
The proposed problem has an interdisciplinary character because, after the
students complete the actions related to fair division, they may, for instance, look
up some vegetables, put the research images on the part of the land that belongs to
the group, and make an exhibition to the school. On the other hand, school units
that have land may, later on, plant herbs for spices to be used in the school kitchen,
among other possible alternatives.
With these actions, we notice the possibility of the child’s psychic development,
since he or she “starts to participate in a collective activity that brings new needs and
demands from their new modes of action” (Sforni, 2003, p. 95, our translation). The
meanings attributed to the concepts worked are, therefore, mediated by the actions
of the teachers. The students, in this perspective, become subjects in the pedagogical
activity as they actively and intentionally participate in the concept appropriation
process (Basso, 1994, our translation). Therefore, this demonstrates the importance
of pedagogical intentionality in conjunction with mathematical knowledge, attributed
by teachers when developing the learning triggering situations presented in this paper.
When we do not work in this way, approaching the conceptual nexus of the concept
to make possible for the development and learning processes to be set in motion, the
tendency is to reproduce techniques and procedures. In this way, we approach to
everyday knowledge more than scientific knowledge and distance ourselves from
the main objective of school education.

13.5 Final Considerations

Based on the assumptions of the Teaching-Orienteering Activity, we highlight the

importance of the historical–logical process in the organization of mathematics
teaching (de Moura, 1996, 2010), for it is from its knowledge that we understand the
necessities that triggered the elaboration of the concepts. With this understanding,
we can produce teaching activities that evoke concepts to be taught through needs
similar to the historical process by which such a concept was produced. This is the
236 A. P. Gladcheff et al.

essence of the methodological perspective put forward by the Teaching-Orienteering

Activity (TOA), which goes much beyond the idea of simple movement; neither fits
the ideas commonly present in the common sense of activity understood by mere
actions disconnected from the essence of the concept.
For this reason, the act of reflecting on what we teach is an essential action in
pedagogical activity. Because, according to de Moura (2004):
Subjects who deal with the concept as a tool need to have access and means that lead them
to a very precise understanding of their object, because they need to give meaning to what
they teach so that their students can make sense of what they are told is important to learn.
It seems to us is to be the first and main problem that we must address in teacher formation.
This is a professional that we could call a creator of meaning for what is taught and his main
tool is the word (de Moura, 2004, p. 258—our translation).

For this, it is necessary to understand the human need to create such knowledge
so that it can be taught in a meaningful and non-mechanized way. Thus, because we
do not reflect and analyze knowledge as a social object, that mechanized teaching
may occur. For Davydov (1982), reflective activity:
[…] allows modifying the ideal images, the “projects” of things, without modifying the
things themselves until that moment. This modification of the “project” of the thing, based
on the experience of its practical transformations, involves the kind of subjective activity of
the human that in Philosophy is usually called thinking. Thinking means inventing, building
in the mind the idealized project (corresponding to the purpose of the activity, its idea) of
the real object that will result from the supposed work process. Thinking means change
according to the ideal project and the idealized scheme of the activity, transforming the
initial image of the work’s object into another idealized object. (p. 294—our translation)

This means that reflection is needed so that the initial image of an object can
be transformed into another idealized object corresponding to the first one. For the
purpose we present in this paper, the initial image of the objects of knowledge “mea-
surement of time” and “area” can, through reflection and analysis, be transformed
into idealized objects that correspond to the purposes of the teaching activity to be
elaborated.
As an example, we can mention the awareness on the part of one of the teachers,
exposing her discomfort when realize, with the studies on the concept of measurement
of time carried out during the educational process, that the teaching of such a concept,
during the five initial years of schooling, is assimilated in a mechanized way, working
only with the use of instruments as a final product. In her own words, the teacher
reports:
- Wow, we spend five years teaching to read a clock and the kids don’t necessarily learn to
read the time, and to get to solve problems of how many minutes I was late or early. It’s
very procedural.’ It got like this, a nuisance, wow! There it is! On top of this story, what is
a concept anyway?! (Gladcheff, 2015, p. 206—our translation).

With that, the teacher starts to reflect on: Why do we teach such a concept?—What
should we teach about such a concept?—How can we teach about such a concept?
In this context, the learning triggering situations materialized through the virtual
stories “Vegetable Garden” and “A problem to the curumins” were elaborated by a
13 Contributions of the Cultural–Historical Theory to Activities … 237

collaborative collective that, in our understanding, due to the functions of its partici-
pants (Basic Education teachers, pedagogical coordinators, graduate, undergraduate
students, and university professors), provided a precious movement of elaboration,
writing, application, re-elaboration, and rewriting. This process contributed to the
elaboration and evaluation of teaching activities from different perspectives.
Considering that “men do not live in a constant creating state. He only creates for
necessity, that is, to adapt to new situations, or to satisfy new necessities” (Vázquez,
2011, p. 269, our translation), the challenges were established as an integral and
essential part of the process, since, according to the aforementioned author, without
the need to create, man only repeats what exists. However, “creating is for him the
first and most vital human need, for only creating, transforming the world, men […]
makes a human world and makes himself.” (Vázquez, 2011, p. 269, our translation).
With this way of acting, it is possible to evidence the planning and materialization
of the teaching actions of teacher, marked by the intentionality that indicates the level
of awareness of their role in the teaching process and in the social group to which they
belong, such as the “process of awareness of its value as a subject of a community
that seeks to solve problems.” This, according to de Moura (2000), “is what will
allow you to take on the desire to change and to form autonomously in consonance
with collective objectives” (de Moura, 2000, p. 45—our translation).
Thus, the coming and going, the integration of theory with practice posed by the
dialectical movement of re-elaboration of the proposals in activity, as well as the
return to rethink the theoretical construct that, guided, allow the materialization of
the process of reflection, analysis, and synthesis present in the cycle of action and
transformation of reality is materialized as a human activity.
In this sense, we seek to present, in this article, contributions to the discussion on
teaching area and measurement of time in the early years of basic school, in order
to show, in the case of the area, its surface quantifying character, to the detriment of
teaching based on formulas; and, in the case of time measurement, the possibility of
“non-procedural” teaching that aims not only the development of time reading and
calendar filling techniques.
Based on what we have presented, we highlight that this is a proposal that enable
the appropriation of more elaborate knowledge. However, we emphasize that the
difficulty for such a proposal to be implemented in schools is initially linked to teacher
training. The possibility of working with this approach occurs when the teacher
expands their knowledge, and this can happen through participation in continuing
educational processes and/or in initial training, as long as there are educators who
emphasize the theoretical–methodological proposal of the Teaching-Orienteering
Activity not as a script to be followed, but as a pedagogical possibility of creation
with the purpose of human development.
Whether with teachers in the early years of schooling or not, the importance of
studies on the logical–historical movement of mathematical concepts and the theoret-
ical–methodological principles, which underlie the Teaching-Orienteering Activity,
must be present in the educational processes. This is an action of teacher educators,
which has been developed by members of GEPAPe (Group of Studies and Research
on Pedagogical Activity), in ongoing and initial educational processes.
238 A. P. Gladcheff et al.

As one of the educators participating in such a movement, Gladcheff (2015)

emphasizes the partnership between university and basic school education in carrying
out training activities by evidencing that:
Teachers, by directly experiencing the difficulties of everyday school life, provide a reference
to academic researchers who, often, do not participate in the important articulation between
theory and pedagogical practice. This partnership, however, must include the school as a
place of training and learning, both for teachers and for researchers, with the main focus on
the social meaning of school education. The way we build the research action, approaching
the collaborative work, make possible the (trans) formation of all its members, as it provide
to the group the knowledge they carry with them and this is only possible because there are
several people in interaction that have a common objective: to intervene in the educational
process with a view to the maximum humanization of the individuals who participate in it.
(Gladcheff, 2015, p. 248—our translation).

It is noteworthy that public policies, with official proposals such as the Education
Observatory3 program that made possible to carry out the network project mentioned
in this text, and which, recently, were no longer implemented in our country, need to
be resumed with the intention of returning to the agenda as a state policy and not a
government one. This so that basic school education and the university have, indeed,
not only possibilities, but the materialization of incentives for integration.

References

Alexandrov, A. D. (2016). Visión general de la matemática. In A. D. Alexandrov et al. (Eds.), La

matemática: su contenido, método y significados. Alianza Editorial.
Basso, I. S. (1994). As condições subjetivas e objetivas do trabalho docente: um estudo a partir do
ensino de história. Tese (Doutorado em Educação) – Universidade Estadual de Campinas.
Brasil. (1997). Secretaria de Educação Fundamental. Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais (1ª a 4ª
série): Matemática. Brasília: MEC/SEF.
Brasil. (2018). Base Nacional Comum Curricular: Educação Infantil e Ensino Fundamental.
Brasília: MEC/SEB. Disponível em. http://basenacionalcomum.mec.gov.br/wp-content/upl
oads/2018/06/BNCC_EI_EF_110518_versaofinal_site.pdf. Acesso em: Mar 24, 2019.
Crosby, A. W. (1999). A mensuração da realidade: a quantificação e a sociedade ocidental 1250–
1600. Tradução de Vera Ribeiro. Editora UNESP.
Davídov, V. (1988). La enseñanza escolar y el desarrollo psiquico. Tradução de Marta Shuare.
Editorial Progreso.
de Faria Sforni, M. S. (2003). Aprendizagem conceitual e organização do ensino: con- tribuições
da teoria da atividade. Tese (Doutorado em Educação)- Faculdade de Educação, Universidade
de São Paulo, São Paulo.

3 The Education Observatory Program, the result of a partnership between Capes (Coordination for
the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel), INEP (National Institute of Educational Studies
and Research Anísio Teixeira), and SECADI (Secretary of Continuing Education, Literacy, Diversity
and Inclusion), was implemented in Brazil in 2006 and was interrupted by the last government
administration. It had the purpose of promoting studies and research in education, aiming, mainly,
to provide the articulation between postgraduate courses, undergraduate, and schools of Basic
Education, as well as to stimulate academic production and the formation of postgraduate resources,
at the master’s and doctoral level.
13 Contributions of the Cultural–Historical Theory to Activities … 239

de Jesus Caraça, B. (2010). Conceitos fundamentais da matemática. Revisto por Paulo Almeida.
Gradiva.
de Jesus Caraça, B. (1951). Conceitos fundamentais da matemática. Tipografia Matemática.
Davydov, V. (1982). Tipos de generalización en la enseñanza. Editorial Pueblo y Edcucación.
de Moura, M. O. (2000). O educador matemático na coletividade de formação: uma experiência
com a escola pública. Tese (Livre Docência) — Faculdade de Educação, Universidade de São
Paulo, São Paulo, SP.
de Moura, M. O. (2004). Pesquisacolaborativa: um foco na ação formadora. In: Bar-Bosa, R. L. L.
(org.) Trajetórias e perspectivas da formação de educadores. Editora UNESP.
de Moura, M. O. (Org.). (2017). Educação escolar e pesquisa na teoria históricocultural. Edições
Loyola.
de Moura, M. O., et al. (2010). A atividadeorientadora de ensino como unidade entre ensino e
aprendizagem. In M. O. de Moura (Org). A atividade pedagógica na teoria histórico-cultural.
Liber livro.
de Moura, M. O., et al. (2010). Atividade Orientadora de Ensino: unidade entre ensino e apren-
dizagem. Revista Diálogo Educacional – PUCPR (Vol. 10, n. 29, pp. 205–229). https://doi.org/
10.7213/rde.v10i29.3094
de Moura, M. O., et al. (Org.). (2018). Atividades para o ensino de Matemática nos anos iniciais
da Educação Básica. Volume II: Medidas. FFCLRP/USP.
de Moura, M. O. (1996). A atividade de ensino como unidade formadora (pp. 29–43). Bolema, Rio
Claro, n. 12.
do Carmo Sousa, M., Panossian, M. L., Cedro, W. L. (2014). Do movimento lógico e histórico
à organização do ensino: o percurso dos conceitos algébricos. Mercado das Letras. (Série
Educação Matemática).
Duarte, N. (2001). Vigotski e o “aprender a aprender”: critica às apropriações neoliberais e
pós-modernas da teoria vigotskiana (2nd ed.). Autores Associados.
Eves, H. (2004). Introdução à história da matemática. Editora da Unicamp.
Fraga, M. A. (2016). Significação do ângulo: indícios do conceito em atividades de localização.
Dissertação (Mestrado em Educação) - Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP.
Gladcheff, A. P. (2015). Ações de estudo em atividade de formação de professores que ensinam
matemática nos anos iniciais. Tese (Doutorado em Educação) - Universidade de São Paulo, São
Paulo, SP.
Gladcheff, A. P. (2016). Intencionalidade pedagógica como elemento fundamental para organização
do ensino. In: Anais... IV Encontro de Educação Matemática nos anos iniciais e III Colóquio
de Práticas Letradas. EEMAI.
Hogben, L. (1956). Maravilhas da Matemática: Influência e função da matemática nos co-
nhecimentos humanos. Globo.
Leontiev, A. (1978). O desenvolvimento do psiquismo. Tradução de Manuel Dias Duarte. Livros
Horizonte.
Moretti, V. D., & Souza, N. M. M. (2015). Educação matemática nos anos iniciais do Ensino
Fundamental: princípios e práticas pedagógicas. 1. Ed. Cortez (Coleção biblioteca básica de
alfabetização e letramento).
Munhoz, A. P. G., & de Moura, M. O. (2020). Mathematics teacher education activity mediated
by teaching-orienteering activity. Obutchénie: Revista de Didática e Psicologia Pedagógica –
Uberlândia, MG (Vol. 4, n. 2, pp. 355–381). https://doi.org/10.14393/OBv4n2.a2020-57487
Piovezan, A. C. T., Gladcheff, A. P., & Fraga, M. A. (2014). O processo coletivo na elaboração de
uma situação desencadeadora de aprendizagem do conceito de área. In: XII Encontro Paulista
de Educação Matemática, 2014, Birigui. Educação matemática no contexto das propostas do
ensino integrado: projeto e políticas (Vol. 1, pp. 759). Disponível em. https://livrozilla.com/
doc/915414/anais-do-xii-epem. Acesso em 07 dez 2020.
Ponte, J. P., & Serrazina, L. (2000). Didáctica da matemática 1º ciclo. Universidade Aberta.
Rigon, A. J., da Silva Ferreira Asbahr, F., & Moretti, V. D. (2010). Sobre o processo de humanização.
In M. O. Moura, (org.). A atividade pedagógica na teoria histórico-cultural. Liber Livro.
240 A. P. Gladcheff et al.

Saviani, D. (1991). Pedagogia histórico-crítica: primeiras aproximações. 2. ed. Cortez.

Vásquez, A. S. (2011). Filosofia da Práxis. 2nd .ed, Buenos Aires: Consejo Latinoamericano de
Ciencias Sociales - Clacso: São Paulo: Expressão Popular, Brasil.
Vigotski, L. S. (2009). A construção do pensamento e da linguagem. Tradução de Paulo Bezerra.
2nd. ed. WMF Martins Fontes, (Biblioteca pedagógica)
Vygotski, L. S. (1991). Obras escogidas. Aprendizaje Visor y Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia,.
Tomo I.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes.
Harvard University Press.
Chapter 14
Collective Reasoning and the Use
of Learning Models for Relationships
Between Quantities, as Suggested
by the El’konin–Davydov Curriculum

Helena Eriksson

Abstract This chapter focuses on learning activity that was suggested by El’konin
and Davydov as a framework for teachers to design opportunities for students to
emerge collective mathematical reasoning. The data for the chapter were taken from
a 3-year longitudinal research project in which learning activity was used to design
teaching, tasks and learning models in a multicultural and multilingual Swedish
primary school. As a result of using this framework, a situation was highlighted
whereby the learning models specific to learning activity had been constructed by
second-language students aged 6 and 7 years as they emerged collective mathematical
reasoning that focused on comparing two different quantities. The contribution to
previous research concerning how learning models can be used in such student groups
for collective reasoning about relationships between quantities is twofold; that is, (1)
the use of the learning models can help students and teachers to return to the problem
they have jointly identified in the collective reasoning and (2) the use of the learning
models can help students who struggle with different linguistic dilemmas to jointly
reflect on both their own and others’ arguments.

14.1 Introduction

Teaching that aims to promote mathematical communication, reasoning and argu-

mentation capabilities in whole-class teaching has challenged both teachers and
researchers (Planas & Valero, 2016; Radford & Barwell, 2016; Ryve et al., 2013;
Skolforskningsinstitutet, 2017). At the same time, studies have shown that young
children are able to conduct and follow mathematical reasoning as they develop
logical chains of arguments, including communicating about mathematical proper-
ties, for example, in free outdoor play (Sumpter, 2016; Sumpter & Hedefalk, 2015)

H. Eriksson (B)
Dalarna University, Falun, Sweden
e-mail: hei@du.se

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 241
A. Veraksa and Y. Solovieva (eds.), Learning Mathematics by Cultural-Historical
Theory Implementation, Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical
Focus 7, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66894-4_14
242 H. Eriksson

and in role play (Van Oers, 2018). Research on mathematical reasoning and argumen-
tation has received increasing attention in recent decades (Lerman, 2006; Planas &
Valero, 2016; Ryve et al., 2013). Specifically, interest in research on collective activ-
ities that consider the needs of individual students has increased (Fleer & Van Oers,
2018; Moxhay, 2008). As one example, arguments that include mathematical prop-
erties should not only be provided by the teacher and consequently precede students’
argumentative actions; more importantly, the arguments should also be provided by
the students to enable them to progressively develop more qualified reasoning (Van
Oers, 2018).
In Sweden, education that aims to promote these capabilities has received more
attention due to a changed social structure (Bunar, 2015). The structure that has been
developed there is similar to that in other countries where student groups are often
both culturally and linguistically heterogeneous. Teaching in such student groups has
to be staged without shared linguistic and cultural experiences (Adler, 2001, 2019;
Barwell et al., 2016; Leonard et al., 2010; Norén, 2015; Norén & Andersson, 2016;
Radford & Barwell, 2016). Groups of students who lack such shared experiences
are deemed to have limited opportunities to develop joint conversations if they rely
solely on verbal language and what can be assumed to be shared everyday experi-
ences (Adler, 2019; Leonard et al., 2010). Studies have shown that the transparency of
content that may be necessary in multilingual environments is often lacking and that
research on how such transparency should be manifested is limited (Adler, 2001,
2019; Barwell et al., 2016; Moxhay, 2008; Norén, 2015). In such student groups,
collective mathematical reasoning has to be developed through resources other than
verbal language alone. Opportunities for developing mathematical abilities such
as communication, reasoning and argumentation in such student groups therefore
depend on the use of tools other than verbal language alone (Radford & Barwell,
2016).
In learning activity, as suggested by the El’konin–Davydov curriculum (hence-
forth ED curriculum), teaching focuses on students’ agency and their opportunities
to participate in joint activities (Zuckerman, 2004) independent of their abilities or
struggling learning situations (Moxhay, 2008). In the ED curriculum, Davydov and
his colleagues argued that the starting point for mathematics education involves a
reflection on what is conceptually fundamental to mathematics (Coles, 2021; Venen-
ciano & Dougherty, 2014; Venenciano et al., 2021). The curriculum focuses on
interrelations between mathematical concepts, and particularly on the relationships
between numbers, which is seen as the most fundamental concept (Venenciano &
Dougherty, 2014; Venenciano et al., 2021). The focus on students’ exploration of
relationships between concepts is one of the most notable aspects of the curriculum.
The tasks and the specific tools (i.e. learning models) suggested for learning activity
aim to motivate and engage young students in a crucial way to develop joint activities
(Davydov, 2008; see also Coles, 2021; Venenciano & Heck, 2016).
The purpose of this chapter is to provide an example of how learning activity
(Davydov, 2008) can help students to participate in mathematics teaching that aims
to enable collective mathematical reasoning. For this purpose, a Swedish project
exploring learning activity, involving teachers and multilingual students in grade 1,
14 Collective Reasoning and the Use of Learning Models for Relationships … 243

is used. The specific research question is as follows: What are the implications of
the use of specific leaning models when it comes to enabling students’ engagement
in collective mathematical reasoning about relationships between quantities?

14.1.1 Learning Activity Suggested by Davydov

The ED curriculum for early mathematics follows the theoretical framework of

learning activity based on Vygotsky’s the cultural–historical school (Davydov,
1990, 2008). As learning activity follows Vygotsky’s ideas about theoretical knowl-
edge, subject-specific tools (learning models) developed through actions in content-
rich collaborative activities become important and even necessary (Morris, 2000;
Schmittau, 2003, 2011; Zuckerman, 2004, 2012, 2022). These learning models enable
students to develop the capability to create and act in the world in a more qualified
and independent way (Davydov, 2008; Davydov & Rubstov, 2018; Repkin, 2003).
All students’ voices are important for creating joint actions and learning models
on theoretical knowledge objects (Bakhtin, 1981; Davydov, 2008). Further on, to
create, achieve and establish a learning activity, theoretical work needs to be carried
out together by students in relation to a specific problem situation (Eriksson & Polot-
skaia, 2017). For theoretical work, learning models can be used to explore concrete
examples of theoretical knowledge (Davydov & Rubstov, 2018; Repkin, 2003).
This principle is what is described as ascending from the abstract to the concrete
(Davydov, 1990, 2008). Mason (2018) highlighted this principle with examples of
young students developing and enhancing number sense in early school years by
exploring relationships between quantities through measurement tasks (Schmittau,
2004) and using algebraic expressions in learning models for the same purpose
(Dougherty, 2008). Both the exploration of relationships and the use of models,
which sometimes contain algebraic expressions, for these explorations are advo-
cated in the ED programme (Dougherty, 2008; Mason, 2018; Schmittau, 2004,
2011; Venenciano & Heck, 2016; Zuckerman, 2004, 2012). The tasks within this
curriculum are often based on measurement, whereby students are invited to work
with quantities represented as lengths, weights, areas, volumes (continuous quan-
tities) and numbers of physical things (discrete quantities). Tools suggested by the
ED programme that can be used to construct learning models include algebraic
and numerical symbols, geometrical figures, algebraic expressions, oral and written
language as well as gestures (Zuckerman, 2004).
To help students develop learning activity as a joint mathematical situation, it is
important that they are given the opportunity to analyse the mathematical content
that is the focus of the situation. This analysis can be done with the help of learning
models. It is important in this analysis that the students themselves, together with
the teacher, identify a possible problem that they can reflect on and solve together.
The process of identification and reflection should be organised in a way that allows
students to also take the perspectives of other students (Zuckerman, 2004). One way
244 H. Eriksson

to organise this is to design tasks whereby students are invited to reflect on hypothet-
ical situations in which fictitious students have solved problems in different ways
(Eriksson & Polotskaia, 2017; Zuckerman, 2012). When teaching young students,
the learning activity should therefore (1) encourage the students to independently
search for ways to solve a new problem instead of presenting a ready-made pattern
for solving; (2) rouse and maintain the students’ initiatives of questions, assump-
tions and observations; and (3) create conditions that will motivate the children and
enable them to interact with their classmates so that they understand and develop
each other’s suggestions about the ways to solve a new problem (Zuckerman, 2022).
Learning activity that offers joint mathematical situations and include work with
learning models, as proposed in the ED curriculum, can, through the opportunities
given by the models for reflection, make the transmission of theoretical knowledge
more transparent (Davydov, 1990, 2008; Moxhay, 2008). This is what Storch (2017)
argued is necessary and important for students in multilingual classrooms. Previous
studies in multilingual classrooms have suggested that the learning models proposed
by the ED curriculum can help students reflect on theoretical knowledge, regardless
of their struggle with language difficulties (Eriksson & Eriksson, 2021). For example,
in this study, the students identify the relationship between addition and subtraction
by reflecting on the fact that the statements C = A + B are equal to C = B + A but
that C = A–B is not equal to C = B–A. The students consider that the commutative
law does not apply to subtraction by using the length models suggested by the ED
programme (Eriksson & Eriksson, 2021).

14.1.2 Collective Mathematical Reasoning

Mathematical reasoning can be described in different ways and perceived as indi-

vidual or collective (Sumpter, 2016). The focus of this chapter is on collective
reasoning, which in turn can be discussed in many different ways depending on,
among other things, basic theoretical assumptions. Researchers and teachers struggle
to understand many of the complex relationships between students and teachers
in collective reasoning, the engagement of participants in whole-class collective
reasoning and how mathematical properties are explicitly conveyed in such reasoning
situations (Ryve et al., 2013). One way in which studies have focused on collec-
tive mathematical reasoning is by discussing how to achieve it (Davydov, 2008;
Radford & Roth, 2011; Webb et al., 2014; Zuckerman, 2022). This was the focus of,
for example, Radford and Roth (2011), who argued that students need to be invited
into spaces for collective action where the role of the teacher and how students are
involved in the activities are particularly important. These researchers suggested that
students and teachers are assigned different roles in classroom interactions. ‘Togeth-
ering’ refers to the role of the teacher and is used to emphasise the teacher’s impor-
tance in capturing a collaborative activity that also involves the teacher and aims to
realise the commonly motivated goal of the activity. Using Webb and colleagues’
(2014) research, the students’ roles can be described in two ways; that is, they explain
14 Collective Reasoning and the Use of Learning Models for Relationships … 245

their own mathematical ideas and they engage with their classmates’ ideas, expla-
nations and arguments (Webb, et al., 2014). As described earlier, learning activity,
as suggested by Davydov (2008), also focuses on joint activities and on students’
opportunity to be agents in their own activities. The concepts of learning activity,
learning models and learning tasks are intended to help teachers support collective
reasoning. Consequently, there are several aspects of what happens in the classroom,
such as mediating tools and the teacher’s responsibility to focus on mathematical
properties and interactional features, that are important for collective mathematical
reasoning (Davydov, 2008; Repkin, 2003; see also Ryve et al., 2013).
It is important for both teachers and researchers to find a structure to describe
and analyse collective reasoning. For this purpose, mathematical reasoning can be
considered as a line of thought in which the arguments are connected through math-
ematical properties (Lithner, 2008, 2017). Collective mathematical reasoning can
be carried out as collective joint activities that aim at meaning-making through the
arguments of different participants that contain mathematical properties (Sumpter &
Hedefalk, 2015, 2018). In such examples of collective mathematical reasoning, the
arguments are provided by all participants, including the teacher and the students
(Sumpter, 2016). Mathematical reasoning has a structure that can be explained as
follows: (1) a (sub) task is explored (TS), (2) a strategy choice is made (SC), (3) the
strategy is implemented (SI) and (4) a conclusion is proposed (C) (Lithner, 2008,
2017). This structure consists of arguments that are linked to each other by math-
ematical properties. Research has identified four types of argument included in the
different parts of mathematical reasoning (Eriksson & Sumpter, 2021; Hedefalk &
Sumpter, 2017; Lithner, 2008; Sumpter & Hedefalk, 2018). These different types
answer different questions concerning how a problem can be solved, and the identi-
fied arguments are linked to the introduction of a task situation (Eriksson & Sumpter,
2021). These arguments answer the question, ‘which problem should be solved?’.
Next, predictive arguments are linked to the choice of strategy, answering the ques-
tion, ‘why will the strategy solve the task?’, and verifying arguments are linked to
the strategy implementation, answering the question, ‘why did the strategy solve the
task?’ (Bergqvist & Lithner, 2012). Finally, evaluative arguments are linked to the
conclusion, giving an answer to the question, ‘how does the conclusion answer the
question for the investigated (sub) task?’ (Hedefalk & Sumpter, 2017; Sumpter &
Hedefalk, 2018).

14.2 Methods for the Research

The data for this chapter were produced in a three-year longitudinal research project
conducted in Sweden from 2014 to 2017. The aim of the project was to use the ED
curriculum as design for teaching one math lesson a week. The other lessons followed
a traditional Swedish teaching approach. The project took place in a multilingual
school consisting of preschool and primary school grades 1–6. This school is in an
area considered one of the most segregated areas of Sweden. From this project, a
246 H. Eriksson

whole-class lesson was selected from the first term of grade 1. The students were
aged 6 or 7 years, and all were second-language learners of Swedish. About 20 to 25
mother tongues were spoken at the school, including five different languages in this
class. There were twelve girls and eleven boys in the class. The pupils’ capabilities
in mathematics were varied, according to national and local mathematics screening
tests. The students were not familiar with mathematical concepts either in Swedish
or in another language.
The research project followed the principles of design and action research (see
Zuckerman, 2022). It was carried out by a working group consisting of the author of
this chapter and six professionally qualified teachers with different levels of teaching
experience. The group worked together to design the lessons according to the princi-
ples of learning activity and in such a way that the lessons were planned, implemented,
analysed and revised in an iterative and cyclical process. For more information about
the research project, see Eriksson (2021).
The selected lesson was documented on video and transcribed with students’ and
teachers’ actions focusing on the task in Fig. 14.1. In the transcript, the students’
names are fictitious. All students and their guardians provided written consent to
participate in the project, according to the Swedish Research Council’s standards
(Vetenskapsrådet, 2017). The consent and other information about the project were
described to the parents at meetings by native language teachers and interpreters.
The task for the lesson was inspired by the ED curriculum and focused on the
central ideas of learning activity to use and develop learning models in joint activities.

A photo A picture

A length model and letter Numerical examples

symbols

Fig. 14.1 Four fields to be constructed by the students when exploring different models for
relationships between quantities
14 Collective Reasoning and the Use of Learning Models for Relationships … 247

A task should allow the students to reflect on the theoretical content embedded in the
problem that they have identified (Davydov, 2008). The mathematical aspect in focus
concerned the relationships between numbers and different ways of representing
these relationships. As usual, when using the ED curriculum, the task was based on
measurement, where the students had to work with quantities represented as volumes,
length models and symbols. The task was conducted as a joint activity by the whole
class. The first part of the task, presented here, focused on mathematical inequality.
The students were asked to construct four fields on a paper with help of a ruler and
a pencil (Fig. 14.1).
The problem the students were tasked with was to identify inequalities and how
to represent them so that the differences between two quantities could be explored.
However, as mentioned earlier with regard to learning activity, the problem was not
provided to the students but instead identified by them. After constructing the four
fields on the paper, a discussion on mathematical inequality was initiated, which
the students were expected to continue with their friends or families at home. The
first problem was then to work out how they could discuss these inequalities outside
the classroom. The problem was solved when the students summarised their joint
conversation with the need to represent the mathematical inequality. For this repre-
sentation, different tools, or what are called learning models in learning activity,
should be used.
The first model of inequality consisted of two equal-sized jars containing two
different volumes of water. The students were asked to reflect on what was different
between the two jars and which of these differences that was important from a mathe-
matical point of view. Depending on the students’ suggestions, they were challenged
with questions that led to the four models presented in Fig. 14.1, namely (1) a photo,
(2) a picture, (3) symbols and a length model and (4) invented arithmetic exam-
ples. In the first field, the teacher had prepared a photo, which the students pasted
into it. In the second field, the students were expected to draw a picture showing an
inequality. In the third field, on the teacher’s initiative, a length model specific to
the ED curriculum was constructed (see Fig. 14.2); there, the students were asked
to propose an algebraic symbol (i.e. a letter) for each volume so that these volumes
would be easier to reflect on. The work of one of the students in the first three fields
is reconstructed in Fig. 14.2, which shows the different volumes of two jars, labelled
A and B. The work in the fourth field, where the students had to provide numerical
examples of inequalities, is presented in the following section.

14.3 Collective Reasoning about the Relationships Between

Quantities

This section provides an analysis of the multilingual students’ mathematical

reasoning when working with learning models to reflect on the relationships between
quantities. The situation used for the analysis refers to the fourth field of the task
248 H. Eriksson

Fig. 14.2 Reconstruction of

a student’s work in the first
three fields

A B A B

A B
A < B
B > A
A
B

presented in Fig. 14.1, when the students were asked to provide numerical exam-
ples for the inequalities they had discussed. The analysis began with the transcripts
being structured according to the structure of the mathematical reasoning suggested
by Lithner (2008). This structure is presented in column three of Table 14.1. The
second step in the analysis was to identify the different types of arguments used in
these reasoning structures according to the different types of arguments proposed by
Eriksson and Sumpter (2021). These arguments are also presented in column three
of Table 14.1. In the third step, the mathematical properties (e.g. content, concepts
and transformations) that anchored the arguments were identified and presented in
the fourth column of Table 14.1.
Table 14.1 implicates that when the students were working jointly on the fourth
field in the task in Fig. 14.1, the learning models could affect the students’ collective
reasoning in two different ways. First, the learning models helped the students and
the teacher to identify that, and return to, the problem they were solving was about
determining different volumes of water in the jars so that the expression A < B would
be true. Second, the learning models helped the students to use each other’s arguments
to identify that the algebraic expression and the length models were models of the
volume of water in the two jars. In this joint work (i.e. potential learning activity),
the teacher collaborated with the students by asking questions and orchestrating the
collective reasoning. In Table 14.1, the details for the first way that the learning
models affected the students’ collective reasoning are highlighted in bold, and those
for the second are in italics.
14 Collective Reasoning and the Use of Learning Models for Relationships … 249

Table 14.1 The problem situation when the activity was to find numerical examples for A and B
Time code Data Reasoning Mathematical
structure properties
(type of
argument)
20:32 Abel: Do you mean we can suggest any A new TS A = n; B = m
numbers? was n = {∞}
identified m = {∞}
20:34 Bea: For the water or the letters? [Holds up SC A, B = what?
her book and points at the jars and the predictive A = n; B = m
letters.] argument
20:34 Dick: Suggest what? SI
20:40 Teacher: Wait. First, we have to think C evaluative Representations
about what the difference is between the question A = the water
letters and the water. [Points at the letters reinforcing B = the water
and the water in the jars.] TS using the
letters
20:45 Students: 4 and 5 SC
20:45 Teacher: Wait. Do the letter symbolise the C evaluating What
water or the volumes [points at the photo of question representations?
the jars in the first field of the task] and reinforcing
what do the letters symbolise? [Points at TS using the
the letters below the jars] And also, these letters, and
length models, what do they symbolise? the length
[Points at the length models in the third models
field in the task on the board.]
21:20 Students: 4 and 5 SC A = 4; B = 5
21:20 Eric: 20 SC A or B = 20
21:25 Teacher: Stop. No more numerical C evaluating A concluding
suggestions. What did we say about the question question regarding
letters? What do they represent or reinforcing A and B
symbolise? [Points at the letters below TS using the
the jars.] letters
21:35 Dick: The jars? [Questions and goes to the SC A and B are
board and points at the jars.] representing an
object
21:35 Eric: Lengths? [Questions and holds up his SC A and B are
book and points at the length model.] representing a
model
21:35 Fred: Do they symbolise the jars? Reinforcing What do A and B
TS symbolise?
identifying
21:39 Dick: Yes SI
21:40 Teacher: Do they? Reinforcing
TS
(continued)
250 H. Eriksson

Table 14.1 (continued)

Time code Data Reasoning Mathematical
structure properties
(type of
argument)
21:43 Abel: The alphabet. [Points at the wall SI verifying A and B are letters
with the alphabet.] by pointing
at a model
21:43 Dick: Letters SI Representations
21:44 Teacher: What do the letters symbolise in C evaluating A=
this task? What do they represent here? question B=
[Points at the letter symbols.] reinforcing
TS
21:44 Dick: The jars… [Goes to the board and SI verifying Representations
points at the jars in the photo.] using a
model
21:45–22:10 Teacher: Do they? [The discussion goes on for a while. It ends up in a disciplined
discussion by the teacher.]
22:10 Teacher: Listen. What did we talk about SI back to A=
when we decided on what letters to use? TS Verified B=
[Points at the letters.] argument by
pointing at
the letters
22:20 Dick: The jars. [Points at the picture of the
jars in his book.]
22:22 Glenn: No, actually… it is the water that is C evaluating Implicit that the
different… argument volume of the water
is not equal
Implicit that
A = B
22:24 Fred: One is small and one big. [Points at SC n<m
the length models.]
22:24 Dick: A is small. B is large SI verifying A < B
using the
models
consisting of
algebraic
symbols
22:25 Glenn: A is before B. [Points at the wall SI Meaning the
with the alphabet.] alphabet: A, B, C
22:27 Teacher: Yes. Listen carefully. What do the Reinforcing
letters symbolise? [Points at the letters.] TS pointing
Anyone else? at the letters
22:35 Dick: The water… SI
22:35 Teacher: …or, what about the water? Reinforcing
TS
(continued)
14 Collective Reasoning and the Use of Learning Models for Relationships … 251

Table 14.1 (continued)

Time code Data Reasoning Mathematical
structure properties
(type of
argument)
22:37 Fred: How much water? It’s different C A=n
B=m
22:37 Teacher: Yes, and why did we use the Reinforcing
letters? TS
22:39 A student: To describe SC
22:39 Teacher: Yes, or to symbolise. To SI
symbolise what?
22:42 Fred: How much water… C
22:42 Teacher: Yes, and in Swedish, we call that C evaluating A and B are
the volume. Have you heard that word argument representing the
before? volume
23:05 Dick: Yes, a bottle SI
23:05 Teacher: Let’s go on. We should suggest Reinforcing A = n; B = m
numbers for the volumes. How do we do the first TS n = m = {∞}
that? Can we suggest any numbers? of this
situation
23:10 Eric: Yes SC
23:10 Fred: No, A has to be smaller than B SI A<B
23:10 Teacher: Why? Reinforcing
TS
23:25 Fred: Look. A is just a little water in this C evaluating A<B
[goes to the teacher’s desk and points at arguments
the jar with the volume labelled A]; using a
therefore, A is small. Look here, this is B; it combination
is almost full, and it its bigger. [Points at of tools
the other jar.] Therefore, A is 5 and B is
20. B is a long stretch
23:45 Teacher: This is important. What did Fred SI: Asking
say? Can anyone explain? for the
evaluating
argument
again in C

14.3.1 The Learning Models Helped the Students

and the Teacher to Identify and Return to the Problem

Regarding the first way the learning models affected the students’ collective
reasoning, they were used to identify the problem that the students were to solve in the
fourth field (bold text in Table 14.1). At the start in the situation below, Abel (at 20:32)
initially identified the problem regarding what numbers the students might suggest
252 H. Eriksson

(n = {∞}, m = {∞}). Abel, Bea and Dick, identified this implicitly formulated
problem as, ‘What should they give numerical examples of?’ In the task construc-
tion, the water as well as the letters were meant to symbolise different quantities,
namely different volumes, but according to the predictive question of Bea (at 20:34),
the students did not discern the letters as symbols for the volume, and therefore
the quantity of water. Instead of focusing on the numerical examples to explore the
relationships requested in the fourth field, the teacher’s evaluative argument focused
on taking the students back to the argument they had first identified. Although the
joint activity in the three previous fields focused on exploring what the models and
symbols depicted, the work in the fourth field, which should have focused on the
numerical examples for the unknown quantities, focused the same thing. The teacher
focused on the models by repeatedly asking what the models were of (A = the water,
B = the water, A = volume, B = volume) at least three times (at 20:40, 20:45 and
21:25) and pointed to and verbally referred to them. The students’ strategy choices
subsequently focused on the models and the letter symbols, identifying that they
were symbols for the quantity of water. The teacher verified their arguments several
more times by taking the students back to their identified problem (at 21:44, 22:10,
22:27, 22:37 and 22:39), sometimes pointing at the different models and sometimes
asking questions. Fred’s conclusion when evaluating the task situation was linked to
the teacher’s persistently repeated questions about the symbols.

14.3.2 The Learning Models Helped the Students to Use

Each Other’s Arguments

Regarding the second way, one example of the use of the learning models concerned
the opportunities for the students to argue with the help of both their own and others’
arguments (italic text in Table 14.1). Dick, Fred and Glenn reflected on identifying
the problem to be solved (at 21:35–21:39 and 22:20–22:25 and with the teacher at
21:43–22:10) in Table 14.1. They pointed at the jars with the water, the amount of
water, the letter symbols and the length models to jointly compare the quantities of
the volumes. Fred evaluated A < B (at 23:25) by using the volume, the letter symbols,
the length models and a numerical example. The students carried on these reflections
by using oral language and pointing to models on the board. In this problem situation,
the students could not only explore the relationships between the quantities but also
the letters as unknown quantities and as a model for the relationships.
When the students at the beginning of the situation in Table 14.1 were asked to
determine numerical examples for A and B, they did not know what they should give
examples of. At the end of the situation Fred evaluated, with help of the learning
models, that A and B were connected to the volume, thus the quantity of water
(at 23:25). All students then were able to suggest individual numerical examples
explicitly grounded in the learning model that consisted of the expressions with
algebraic symbols, see Figs. 14.3 and 14.4. In this fourth field, the students could
14 Collective Reasoning and the Use of Learning Models for Relationships … 253

Fig. 14.3 Mohammed’s A < B

work in the fourth field in the
task
5 < 20
5 20
4 < 5
17 < 18

Fig. 14.4 Nadiro’s work in

the fourth field in the task A < B
5 < 20
5 20
4 < 100
10 < 10 + 2
10 < 17 + 3 + 5
5+5 < 100

do their individual explorations. Nadiro, for example, presents three operations with
addition, see Fig. 14.4.
Table 14.1 shows the work in the fourth field when the teacher asked the students
to provide numerical examples for A and B that would make the inequality A < B
true.

14.4 Conclusion

The implications of using the specific learning models shown in the collective
reasoning are above all the assistance they offered the students and the teacher to
identify and return to the problem, as well as the support they provided for the students
to use and develop each other’s arguments. The learning models helped both students
to understand, and the teacher to highlight, that it was the differences between the
two unknown volumes that they should reflect upon. In strategy choices and imple-
mentations, students reflected on whether it was the water or the volume that was
of interest. The algebraic letters were thus used to focus on the quantities both in
terms of the physical volume, the length models, and finally also the suggestions
for numerical examples. The students and the teacher then pointed at and verbally
254 H. Eriksson

referred to the learning models on the board. In that manner, the three tools—alge-
braic symbols, the length models and the physical volumes—in the learning models
helped the students to use each other’s arguments, and the teacher to challenge the
students by mentioning the letters and pointing towards the models on the board.
The learning models helped in terms of enabling students’ engagement in collective
mathematical reasoning when analysing the relationships between quantities.

14.5 Discussion

The main results of this chapter indicate that young second-language learners,
through tool-mediated joint reflective actions, as suggested in the ED curriculum,
succeeded in developing collective mathematical reasoning. The suggested learning
models offered the students and the teacher to identify and return to the problem.
In addition, they provided support for the students to use and develop each other’s
arguments.
The students in this study initially had difficulty understanding the meaning of the
algebraic symbols. Through the joint activity, they explored these symbols and simul-
taneously analysed the relationships between different quantities. These relationships
are examples of structures in arithmetic that are challenging for not only second-
language learners but also many other young students (Adler, 2019; Barwell et al.,
2016). However, these types of joint learning models succeed in mediating mathemat-
ical concepts and visualising mathematical content, which, for example, Adler (2001)
and Storch (2017) argued are important features of mathematics teaching in multi-
lingual classrooms. Moreover, the starting point for this chapter was that although
young children can follow and exhibit mathematical reasoning (e.g. Sumpter & Hede-
falk, 2015; Van Oers, 2018), researchers and teachers struggle to create situations
for students to engage in (e.g. Planas & Valero, 2016; Radford & Barwell, 2016;
Radford & Roth, 2011; Skolforskningsinstitutet, 2017). To make these situations
possible, researchers have argued that students need to be invited into spaces for
joint actions, such as learning activity (Davydov, 2008; Radford & Roth, 2011;
Zuckerman, 2004). The findings in this study demonstrate that such joint spaces
benefit from teachers and young students working to develop learning activity also
in multilingual student groups.
Altogether, two elements of the lesson appeared to be particularly important in
enabling the multilingual students to engage in collective mathematical reasoning.
First, and in line with what Eriksson and Eriksson (2021) showed, students’ ability
to reflect on the symbols to identify relationships between quantities seems to be
linked to their joint construction of learning models. The construction of learning
models enabled them to use each other’s arguments in their reflections. Second, these
reflections seemed to be possible because the students repeatedly verified and imple-
mented content details in line with the problem they had identified. The problem
identification was done by identifying arguments, which had been investigated and
14 Collective Reasoning and the Use of Learning Models for Relationships … 255

defined by Eriksson and Sumpter (2021) as the first step in the structure of mathemat-
ical reasoning that developed into a learning activity. During the lesson, the different
types of arguments, including the identifying arguments, were staged not only by the
teachers but also the students. Therefore, these learning models seemed to be partic-
ularly important for the multilingual students to elicit their reflections on what the
symbols were symbolising and the relationships between quantities. Thus, for a joint
activity in which students can develop collective mathematical reasoning, learning
activity can be used as a framework for designing teaching (Davydov, 1990, 2008;
Radford & Roth, 2011), or, more specifically related to young students’ emerging
understanding of mathematics, the ED curriculum can be used as a framework for
designing their teaching (see also Davydov, 1990, 2008; Schmittau, 2003, 2004,
2011; Venenciano & Heck, 2016; Zuckerman, 2004, 2022). Important to note is that
in the teachers’ design work using the ED curriculum, it was not possible to know
or decide exactly what kind of learning models that would be developed during the
lessons; rather, the models depended on the students’ suggestions. The teachers in
the project had to prepare for several types of arguments by the students, but over
time, they became increasingly familiar with what to prepare.
Finally, to find out more about how the ED curriculum and the learning models
it proposes can influence collective reasoning in multilingual classes, more models
and tasks designed for learning activity need to be explored (Coles, 2021). Planas
and Pimm (2023) argued for the importance of exploring the possibilities of different
mediating tools, such as language and other communicative tools, in a multilingual
mathematical classroom. Learning models in this context may be seen as a combina-
tion of language as well as other mediating tools. More research on the ED curriculum
and the learning models may lead to changes in instruction over time, with the result
that teachers and students become keen to analyse and formulate mathematical prob-
lems and content together using different mediating tools. One example of further
research on learning activity is the Swedish project led by Professor Inger Eriksson
‘Problem situations, learning models and teaching strategies—design of a profes-
sional support for the youngest students’ understanding of the positional system’
funded by the Swedish Institute for Educational Research (2023). The purpose of
this collaborative design project is to create a professional framework of tasks, tools,
models, and theoretical principles based on the ED curriculum to be used by teachers
to improve f-3 pupils’ understanding of the structure of the positional notation system
regardless of base.

References

Adler, J. (2001). Teaching mathematics in mulitlingual classrooms. Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Adler, J. (2019). Learning about mathematics teaching and learning from studying rituals and
ritualization? A Commentary. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 101(2), 291–299. https://
doi.org/10.1007/s10649-018-9876-6
Bakhtin, M. (1981). The dialogic imagination: Four essays. University of Texas Press.
256 H. Eriksson

Barwell, R., Clarkson, P., Halai, A., Kazima, M., Moschkovich, J., Planas, N., Phakeng, M.S.,
Valero, P., & Ubillús, M. V. (2016). Mathematics education and language diversity. Springer
International Publisher. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319145105
Bergqvist, T., & Lithner, J. (2012). Mathematical reasoning in teachers’ presentations. The Journal
of Mathematical Behavior, 31, 252–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2011.12.002
Bunar, N. (2015). Nyanlända och lärande—mottagande och inkludering. Natur och Kultur.
Coles, A. (2021). Commentary on a special issue: Davydov’s approach in the XXI century.
Educational Studies in Mathematics, 106(3), 471–478. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-020-100
18-9
Davydov, V. V. (1990). Types of generalization in instruction: Logical and psychological problems in
the structuring of school curricula. Soviet Studies in Mathematics Education. (Trans. JoanTeller).
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Davydov, V. V. (2008). Problems of developmental instruction. A theoretical and experimental
psychological study. Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Davydov, V., & Rubtsov, V. (2018). Developing reflective thinking in the process of learing activity.
Journal of Russian & East European Psychology, 55(4–6), 287–571. https://doi.org/10.1080/
10610405.2018.1536008
Dougherty, B. (2008). Algebra in the early grades. Lawrence Erlbaum.
Eriksson, H. (2021). Att utveckla algebraiskt tänkande genom lärandeverksamhet: En undervis-
ningsutvecklande studie i flerspråkiga klasser i grundskolans tidigaste årskurser. [Developing
algebraic thinking through learning activity: A study of practice developmental teaching in
multilingual classes in lower school grades.] [Doctoral thesis, Stockholm University]. DIVA.
https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-190408
Eriksson, H., & Eriksson, I. (2021). Learning actions indicating algebraic thinking in multilingual
classrooms. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 106(3), 363–378. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10
649-020-10007-y
Eriksson, H., & Sumpter, L. (2021). Algebraic and fractional thinking in collective mathematical
reasoning. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 108(3), 473–491. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10
649-021-10044-1
Eriksson, I., & Polotskaia, E. (2017). Editorial. International Journal for Mathematics Teaching
and Learning, 18(2), 132–135.
Fleer, M., & Van Oers, B. (2018). International trends in research: Redressing the north-south
balance in what matters for early childhood education reserach. In M. Fleer & B. Van Oers,
International Handbook of Early Childhood Education (pp. 1–33). Springer.
Hedefalk, M., & Sumpter, L. (2017). Studying preschool children’s reasoning through epistemolog-
ical move analysis. In B. Kaur, W. Ho, T. Toh, & B. Choy, Proceedings of the 41st Conference
of the International Group for the Psychology of Matheamtics Education (pp. 1–8). Singapore:
PME.
Leonard, J., Brooks, W., Barnes-Johnson, J., & Berry, R. Q. (2010). The nuances and complexities
of teaching mathematics for cultural relevance and social justice. Journal of Teacher Education,
61(3), 261–270. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487109359927
Lerman, S. (2006). Socio-cultural research in PME. In A. Gutiérrez & P. Boero, Handbook of
research on the psychology of mathematics education (pp. 347–366). Sense Publishers.
Lithner, J. (2008). A research framwork for creative and imitative reasoning. Educational Studies
in Mathematics, 67(3), 255–276. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-007-9104-2
Lithner, J. (2017). Principles for designing mathematical tasks that enhance imitative and creative
reasoning. ZDM, 49, 937–949. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-017-0867-3
Mason, J. (2018). How early is too early for thinking algebraically. In C. Kieran, Teaching and
learning algebraic thinking with 5- to 12- year olds. The global evolution of an emerging field
of research and practice (pp. 329–351). Springer International Publishing AG.
Morris, A. (2000). A teaching experiment: Introducing fourth graders to fractions from the viewpoint
of measuring quantities using Davydov’s mathematics curriculum. Focus on Learning Problems
in Mathematics, 22(2), 33–84.
14 Collective Reasoning and the Use of Learning Models for Relationships … 257

Moxhay, P. (2008). Assessing the scientific concept of number in primary school children. ISCAR
paper presentations (pp. 1 24). San Diego: ISCAR.
Norén, E., & Andersson, A. (2016). Multilingual students’ agency in mathematics classroom. In A.
Halai & P. Clarkson, Teaching and learning mathematics in multilingual classrooms (pp. 109–
124). Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-229-5
Norén, E. (2015). Agency and positioning in a multilingual mathematics classroom. Educational
Studies in Mathematics, 89(2), 167–184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-015-9603-5
Planas, N., & Valero, P. (2016). Tracing the socio-cultural-political axis in understanding methe-
matics education. In A. Gutiérrez, G. Leder, & P. Boero (Eds.), The second handbook of research
on the psychology of mathematics education. The journey continues (pp. 447–483). Sense
Publisher. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-561-6
Planas, N., & Pimm, D. (2023). Mathematics education research on language and on communication
including some distinctions: Where are we now? ZDM. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-023-014
97-0
Radford, L., & Barwell. (2016). Languages in mathematics education research. In I. Gutiérrez, G.
Leder, & P. Boero (Eds.), The second handbook of research on the psychology of mathematics
education. The journey continues (pp. 275–313). Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-
94-6300-561-6
Radford, L., & Roth, W. (2011). Intercorporeality and ethical commitment: An activity prespective
on classroom interaction. Educational Studies in Matheamtics, 77(2), 227–245. https://doi.org/
10.1007/s10649-010-9282-1
Repkin, V. (2003). Developmental teaching and learning activity. Journal of Russian and East
European Psychology, 41(5), 10–33.
Ryve, A., Larsson, M., & Nilsson, P. (2013). Analyzing content and participation in classroom
discourse: Dimensions of variation, mediationg tools, and conceptual accountability. Scandi-
navian Journal of Educational Research, 57(1), 101–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.
2011.628689
Schmittau, J. (2003). Cultural-historical theory and mathematics education. In A. Kozulin, B. Gindis,
V. Ageyev, & S. Miller (Eds.), Vygotsky’s educational theory in cultural context (pp. 225–246).
Cambridge University Press.
Schmittau, J. (2004). Vygotskian theory and mathematics education: Resolving the conceptual-
procedural dichotomy. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 19(1), 19–43.
Schmittau, J. (2011). The role of theoretcal analysis in developing algebraic thinking: A Vygotsian
perspective. In J. Cai & D. Knuth (Eds.), Early algebraization: A global dialogue from multiple
perspectives (pp. 71–85). Springer.
Skolforskningsinstitutet. (2017). Klassrumsdialog i matematikundervisningen—matematiska
samtal i helklass i grundskolan. Skolforskningsinstitutets systematiska översikter. [Classroom
dialogue in mathematics education. Swedish Institute for Educational Research. A systematic
review]. Swedish Institute for Educational Research.
Swedish Institute for Educational Research. (2023, 8 June). Problem situations, learning models and
teaching strategies—design of a professional support for the youngest students’ understanding
of the positional system. https://www.skolfi.se/forskningsfinansiering/finansierade-forskningspr
ojekt-2021/problemsituationer-larandemodeller-och-undervisningsstrategier-plus/
Storch, N. (2017). Sociocultural theory in the L2 classroom. In S. Loewen & M. Sato, The Routledge
handbook of instructed second language acquisition (pp. 69–85). Taylor & Francis.
Sumpter, L. (2016). Two frameworks for mathemtaical reasoning at preschool level. In T. Meaney,
O. Helenius, M. Johansson, T. Lange, & A. Wernberg (Eds.), Mathematics education in the
early years. Results from the POEM2 Conference 2014 (pp. 157–171). Springer International
Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23935-4
Sumpter, L., & Hedefalk, M. (2015). Preeschool children’s collective mathematical reasoning during
free outdoor play. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 30, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jmathb.2015.03.006
258 H. Eriksson

Sumpter, L., & Hedefalk, M. (2018). Teachers’ roles in preschool childern’s collective mathematical
reasoning. European Journal of STEM Education, 3(3), 16–25. https://doi.org/10.20897/ejstem
e/387
Van Oers, B. (2018). Long-standing and innovative programs in early childhood education: An
introduction. In M. Fleer & B. Van Oers (Eds.), International handbook of early childhood
education (pp. 969–995). Springer.
Venenciano, L., & Dougherty, B. (2014). Addressing priorities for elementary school mathematics.
For the Learning of Mathematics, 18–24, 1.
Venenciano, L., & Heck, R. (2016). Proposing and testing a model to explain traits of algebra
prepardness. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 92(1), 21–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10
649-015-9672-5
Venenciano, L., Polotskaia, E., Mellone, M., & Radford, L. (2021). An introduction to multiple
perspectives on Davydov’s approach in the XXI century. Educational Studies in Mathematics,
106(3), 323–326. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-021-10040-5
Vetenskapsrådet. (2017). God forskningssed. Vetenskapsrådet.
Webb, N., Franke, M., Ing, M., Wong, J., Fernandez, C., Shin, N., & Torrou, A. (2014). Engaging with
others’ mathematical ideas: Interrelationships among student participation, teachers’ instruc-
tional practices, and learning. International Journal of Educational Research, 63, 79–93. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2013.02.001
Zuckerman, G. (2004). Development of reflection through learning activity. European Journal of
Psychology of Education, 1, 9–18.
Zuckerman, G. (2012). Developmental education. Journal of Russian and East European
Psychology, 49(6), 45–63. https://doi.org/10.2753/RPO10610405490603
Zuckerman, G. (2022). Learning task as the heart of learning activity. Artigos Tematicos, 25, 1–26.
https://doi.org/10.18224/educ.v25i1.12644
Chapter 15
“Learning Models” as a Means
of Materialising Algebraic Thinking
in Joint Actions—Results from a Design
Study in Grades 1 and 5 in Sweden

Inger Eriksson, Jenny Fred, Anna-Karin Nordin, Martin Nyman,

and Sanna Wettergren

Abstract The aim of this chapter, which draws upon data from a design research
project based on Davydov’s principles of learning activity, is to exemplify the func-
tions learning models can have in visualising students’ algebraic thinking when
they collectively discuss algebraic expressions. The data are comprised of video-
taped research lessons in grades 1 and 5, respectively. The analysis indicates that the
learning models enhanced the students’ joint exploration of the idea behind algebraic
expressions and thus materialised their algebraic thinking in the whole-class discus-
sions in three ways: (1) materialising an argument, (2) materialising a problem, and
(3) materialising a collective memory.

15.1 Introduction

This chapter reports on a Swedish design study framed by learning activity in math-
ematics (Davydov, 2008). Learning activity can be seen as an educational theory
developed by El’konin and Davydov in the 1950s and 1960s (Repkin, 2003a), and
based on the principles of cultural historical theory (Vygotsky, 1963, 1986) and
activity theory (Leontiev, 1978). The main idea behind learning activity is the devel-
opment of students’ theoretical thinking, that is, in this case algebraic thinking. In
order to develop such thinking, Davydov (1990, p. 173) argues that the teaching has to
be organised following the model of “ascending from the abstract to the concrete.” In
other words, the students should first be invited to collectively explore the theoretical
content, the abstract, for example, the structural aspects of an algebraic expression.

I. Eriksson (B) · J. Fred · A.-K. Nordin · M. Nyman · S. Wettergren

Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
e-mail: inger.eriksson@su.se
M. Nyman
Åbo Akademi University, Vasa, Finland

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 259
A. Veraksa and Y. Solovieva (eds.), Learning Mathematics by Cultural-Historical
Theory Implementation, Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical
Focus 7, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66894-4_15
260 I. Eriksson et al.

However, as the abstract is not instantly observable for the students, they need a medi-
ating artefact, in learning activity known as a learning model, that has the power to
visualise and explore the abstract (Gorbov & Chudinova, 2000). The work done by
students using a learning model can therefore be described as collaborative theo-
retical work. This brings the concept of the theoretical content and learning model
to the forefront of learning activity as an instructional approach. This chapter aims
to exemplify the function of a learning model as a mediating tool for materialising
algebraic thinking when students jointly discuss algebraic expressions.
In recent years and with references to Vygotsky (1987) and Bakhtin (1987), there
has been a growing interest in students’ participation in classroom discourse and
whole-class discussions (Xu & Mesiti, 2022). This interest is particularly relevant in
relation to issues such as supporting students’ mathematical thinking and reasoning
and their reflective capabilities when analysing other students’ explanations (Cobb
et al., 2001; Larsson, 2015; Nathan & Knuth, 2003; Sfard, 2008). According to
Gal’perin (1969), tools and models create conditions for materialising and verbalising
students’ cognitive processes (Engeness, 2021; Nathan & Kim, 2009). Building and
reinforcing collective tool-mediated reasoning in education can thus contribute to the
development of higher-order thinking (Vygotsky, 1986). Larsson and Ryve (2012)
argue that productive classroom discussions are not always easy to achieve, since
discussions may tend to focus on procedural issues even when students provide
valuable input that could lead to fruitful discussions (see Cobb et al., 2001). In one
study, Ryve et al. (2013) noted that the quality of classroom discussions improved
if students were given access to mediating tools, such as tables, rather than relying
solely on verbal representations (cf., Sfard, 2008). This is supported by the works
of Leung and Bolite-Frant (2015) and thus highlights the importance of mediating
tools in promoting high-quality content in classroom discourse.

15.1.1 Algebraic Thinking and Early Algebra

Algebraic thinking is an important part of mathematical thinking, and in recent years,

several researchers have found it beneficial to develop algebraic thinking from an
early age (Blanton et al., 2015; Hodgen et al., 2018; Kaput et al., 2008; Kieran, 2018;
Radford, 2018; Radford & Barwell, 2016; Warren & Cooper, 2009). Lins and Kaput
(2004) argue, with reference to the Vygotskian school and Davydov, that algebraic
problem-solving and algebraic thinking could be introduced as early as grade 1 (see
also Cai & Knuth, 2011; Kieran et al., 2016; Schmittau, 2004, 2005; Venenciano &
Dougherty, 2014). The El’konin–Davydov programme in mathematics invites the
students to explore possible structures and relationships between quantities through
problems based on measurement (Schmittau, 2004; Schmittau & Morris, 2004).
Below, some basic principles of learning activity are outlined.
15 “Learning Models” as a Means of Materialising Algebraic Thinking … 261

15.2 Learning Activity as Theoretical Foundation

Learning activity is both a theory with certain concepts and principles that teachers
can use when planning teaching for theoretical thinking, and a theory of students’
agency that promotes self-regulated learning. Or to phrase it in another way, learning
activity is realised when and if the students become active members in a subject-
specific learning community. Some of the core concepts of learning activity are
problem situations, learning tasks, and collective reflections. As mentioned above,
learning models also play a central role in students’ engagement in a learning activity
(Davydov, 2008; Repkin, 2003b).
Students can establish a learning activity if they encounter a problem situation
(Repkin, 2003b) that is intriguing enough for them to act on. This requires the problem
situation to be content rich and contradictory. A contradiction that is built into the
problem situation can be a dilemma or apparently incompatible conditions, which
require students to analyse and reflect on the situation. With the support of the teacher,
students identify the challenging problem and define a learning task that they see as
meaningful to solve. They explore the tools at hand and what in their prior knowledge
they can use for the task. A learning activity requires that the students elaborate the
learning task through tool-mediated collective reflection (Engeness, 2021; Gal’perin,
1969; Zuckerman, 2004). By drawing on each other’s competences, or secondary
experiences, they can exceed their current competences (Vygotsky, 1986).

15.2.1 Learning Models as Mediating Tools

Davydov (2008) argues that learning models can provide a necessary link for the
development of theoretical thinking (cf., Gal’perin, 1969; Gorbov & Chudinova,
2000; Repkin, 2003b). A learning model is not to be confused with a mathematical
model, rather it is a form of visualisation that, in relation to a specific learning task,
can help students explore theoretical aspects. Learning models are thus seen as a
special form of abstraction:
… where the visually perceived and represented connections and relations of the material
and semiotic elements reinforce the essential relations of the object. /…/ This is a unique
unity of the individual and the general, where the general and essential come to the fore.
(Davydov, 2008, p. 95)

For example, El’konin–Davydov’s mathematical learning activity uses a line

segment (represented as I–––I) as a learning model from grade 1. The line segment
model is intended to enable the youngest students to explore what is similar and what
is different and, by extension, how a difference can be mathematically transformed
into a similarity. In Fig. 15.1, there are two identical jars with the same content but
different amounts of the content. The two horizontal, parallel line segments below
the jars signify that the jars share identical content. The two vertical line segments to
the right of the jars signify that the quantities in the two jars are not the same. Since
262 I. Eriksson et al.

Fig. 15.1 Two jars filled with honey, and two pairs of line segments. Note Extract from the teaching
material for grade 1, Matematikka 1 (Davydov et al., 2012, p. 19)

the quantity cannot be determined by any number, it must be understood generally

in a relational way.
The quantity in the jars can be named using algebraic letter symbols. Thus, the
quantity in the left jar can be labelled a and that in the right b. It is then possible
for students to determine that a < b. Establishing a relationship between the line
segments, the algebraic symbols creates a learning model that allows students to
explore different general and structural aspects of an expression or a statement. This
enables mathematical discussions on equality and inequality and possible transfor-
mations from different to similar as general operations (Krutetskii, 1976). Allowing
students to work only with the “naked,” that is, the abstract algebraic expression a <
b does not make sense. Admittedly, with guidance, the students can model how the
expressed inequality a < b could be transformed into similarities in various ways, for
example: a + c = b; b − c = a; a + d = b − d. When discussing how the volumes
represented by a and b can be made equal, the expression is given a function that
is more substantive than that which the bare expression alone makes possible. If the
students use the line segments as a learning model, they can transform them so that
they become equal by, for example, extending the shorter line segment (a) by another
line segment (c). The line segments a and c together are then equal in length to line
segment b. This provides a basis for transforming the expression a < b into a + c =
b. Students can then reason about other variants of generalised processing relevant
to the current situation, such as the quantities in the depicted honey jars.
According to Davydov (2008), as mentioned above, a learning model creates
conditions for students’ exploration of the theoretical aspects of the content (Davydov
et al., 2003; cf., Eriksson, 2017, 2018). In other words, students are given the opportu-
nity to engage with the learning task theoretically with learning models as mediating
and transforming tools (Broman et al., 2022; Gorbov & Chudinova, 2000).
15 “Learning Models” as a Means of Materialising Algebraic Thinking … 263

15.3 Method and Analysis

The data for this chapter comes from a three-year research project conducted from
2017 to 2019 and funded by the Swedish Institute for Educational Research. The
project has been conducted in accordance with the ethical rules governing Swedish
research, and all data are handled according to Stockholm University’s instructions.
All students who participated in the project have written consent of their guardians.
The overall aim of the project was to explore how teaching can be designed so
that students are given opportunities to develop the capability to provide and follow
algebraic arguments (cf., Eriksson et al., 2021). The study was realised in the form of
a series of iteratively developed research lessons (Marton, 2015) in grades 1, 5, and
7 in three different compulsory public schools and one upper secondary school. This
chapter uses data from the research lessons in grades 1 and 5.1 In these grades, three
and four iteratively adjusted research lessons were taught. The students in grade 1
were between 7 and 8 years old and in grade 5 the students were 11–12 years old.
The students’ families can be described as socio-economic middle class. The classes
were not level-grouped.
Each research lesson was videotaped and transcribed including statements, tone
of voice, and gestures (Radford, 2010; Roth & Radford, 2011). When transcribing,
student names were redacted. The analysis is based on the data from the third research
lesson in grade 1 and the fourth research lesson in grade 5, since these lessons were
the most developed in terms of content and the use of learning models.

15.3.1 The Analysis Process

The analysis is based on activity theory (Leontiev, 1978) in which human tool-
mediated actions are seen as goal oriented to, for example, solve various problems.
Thus, the analysis focuses on how students, together with the teacher, initiate and
conduct discussions in relation to the learning task they defined, which tools they
employ, and the ways in which students use the tools. This makes it possible to discern
analytically what functions the learning models can have in a classroom situation.
Particular analytical focus is placed on the actions that take the form of arguments
and the function of the learning model. The analysis was carried out in two steps.
First, sequences where students and teachers discussed algebraic expressions were
identified in each research lesson. To be analytically relevant, the learning model
needed to have a significant function. In grades 1 and 5, three sequences were distin-
guished, respectively. Second, these sequences were further analysed with a focus on

1 The data and the result have been presented previously in a Swedish article: Eriksson, I., Wetter-
gren, S., Fred, J., Nordin, A.-K., Nyman, M., & Tambour, T. (2019). Materialisering av algebraiska
uttryck i helklassdiskussioner med lärandemodeller som medierande redskap i årskurs 1 och 5 [Mate-
rialisation of algebraic expressions in whole-class discussions with learning models as mediating
tools in grades 1 and 5]. Nordic Studies in Mathematics Education, 24(3–4), 81–106.
264 I. Eriksson et al.

what could be seen as signs that the students, through the discussions, had the oppor-
tunity to reflect on structural and relational aspects of the algebraic expressions. In
this second step, we focussed on whether and how learning models helped to qualify
the whole-class discussions, thereby indicating algebraic thinking. The importance
of planned and spontaneously occurring contradictions for the students’ discussions
was also identified.

15.4 Results

The results of the analysis from the two selected research lessons are presented
below—first the results from grade 1 and then those from grade 5.

15.4.1 Algebraic Discussions in Grade 1

In the first sequence, a problem situation was presented on the board and the expres-
sion c + a = b together with how two fictitious students represented the expression
(Fig. 15.2). The aim was to stage a problem situation where the planned learning
model would enhance the collective discussion. This was done by representing
unknown quantities with pieces of paper (see Fig. 15.2) in combination with an
algebraic expression.
In the second sequence of the lesson, students were asked to create representations
of the expression c + b = a using Cuisenaire rods. The rods, like the pieces of paper,
represented unknown quantities and the aim was to visualise possible relations and
structures in the expression. The students’ rod constructions would then be used as
learning models in the collective discussions in the third sequence of the lesson.

Fig. 15.2 Problem situation

presented in grade 1. Note.
Extracted from Eriksson
et al. (2019)
15 “Learning Models” as a Means of Materialising Algebraic Thinking … 265

Fig. 15.3 Copies of students’ rod constructions (both correct and incorrect) based on the expression
c + b = a. Note. Extracted from Eriksson et al. (2019)

15.4.1.1 “You Need Another One”

The sequence began with the teacher gathering the students around a table where
she had arranged copies of the students’ rod constructions, both those that corre-
sponded to the expression, c + b = a, and those that did not (Fig. 15.3). The teacher
claimed: “all of these [constructions] are correct.” Several students objected to the
teacher’s statement, and two of them, Adam and Elliot,2 began to argue why not all
the rod constructions could be correct.

2 The student names used in this chapter are pseudonyms.

266 I. Eriksson et al.

Fig. 15.4 Construction A

shows the original
construction and B the
manipulation that Adam
made in extract 2. Note.
Extracted from Eriksson
et al. (2019)

Excerpt 1

Adam: Eh, for example, this one [points at rod construction 6 in Fig. 15.3] doesn’t fit
together here [points at construction 6]. So, you should do this [moves the rods
so that the construction is equal to construction B in Fig. 15.4]!
Teacher: Ok! To make it consistent [with a questioning tone]?
Adam: No, it didn’t work [moving the rods back to their original locations]!
Teacher: What did you do? What’s not working [remodels Adam’s transfer]? What’s not
working here?
Adam: That… You need another one [points to where it looks like one is missing if
they are to be equal].
Elliot: They’ve cut away a little [shows by running his finger over the rod that is “too
long”].
Teacher: Ok. Why do we need another piece? /…/
Elliot: Because otherwise they won’t have the same length.

It was only after Adam and Elliot had rearranged the rods that they realised the
real problem with the rod construction was that the rods in construction 6 (Fig. 15.3)
did not represent an equality. In the ensuing discussion, arguments about the equiva-
lences shown in each rod construction were tested and reconsidered (Fig. 15.4). The
arguments emphasised that a piece of rod needed to be either added or removed if
the construction were to show an equality.
Adam and Elliot built on each other’s ideas by experimenting with the rod
constructions. The arguments were a combination of the students’ verbal expres-
sions and their experiments with the rods when testing what happened when the rods
were moved. The rods visualised and fixed what could constitute a problem and thus
the arguments were materialised for the students. The learning model provided the
conditions for the collective theoretical work that led to the more qualified discussion
that follows in the next extract.
15 “Learning Models” as a Means of Materialising Algebraic Thinking … 267

15.4.1.2 “Several Become One Letter”

During the ongoing discussion on the meaning of equivalence, another student,

Embla, pointed out that it was not enough to discuss the rod constructions indi-
vidually, but that they also had to consider the written expression, c + b = a. She
also linked to the work that had been done together in the initial sequence of the
lesson and which remained written on the board (see Fig. 15.2):
Excerpt 2

Embla: I guessed… Maybe there [points at the board where the work from sequence 1
remained] [inaudible]. One for each letter [one piece of paper or one rod for
each letter].
Teacher: One for each letter?
Embla: Here [points at a rod construction where three rods together form an equality in
accordance with the expression], but here you need [points at a construction that
does not show an equality] more to make them the same length [points again at
the board] where … the same length [points at the construction in Fig. 15.5],
because then it will be right. More are needed here. Then you have to …
Several become one letter. Here it becomes one letter, and it is not possible.
There [points again at the board], oh, yes.

Embla pointed out that the rod construction (Fig. 15.5) did not match the expres-
sion as more rods were needed to create an equality. She supported her arguments
from another rod construction that formed an equality, in combination with the
previous learning model on the board. She also linked the rod construction to the
expression and emphasised that the number of rods must correspond to the number

Fig. 15.5 Detail: rod construction number 5 from Fig. 15.3. Note. Extracted from Eriksson et al.
(2019)
268 I. Eriksson et al.

of variables in the expression. The learning model thus enabled Embla to further
develop the work that Elliot and Adam had started. It was when Embla pointed to
the pieces of paper and simultaneously manipulated the rods that the arguments were
further qualified. Thus, structures in algebraic expressions as well as relationships
between the variables in the expressions were materialised.

15.4.1.3 “Then There are Two c’s”

At the end of the lesson, the teacher returned to another construction where Ines had
used two yellow rods to make the rows of rods equal (Fig. 15.6). The teacher tried
to make the students realise that the expression also needed to be adjusted to make
the rod construction and the expression match.
Excerpt 3

Teacher: But if we still have these yellow ones [Fig. 15.6]. How do we write [the
algebraic expression] that? /…/ Because you say they must be different sizes
[points at and touches one yellow]. How would this expression be written
[moves the note with the written expression and holds it up]?
Ines: Should the rods be equally long?
Teacher: Yes. But if we were to write it then [points at the written expression]?
Ines: Then …
Teacher: Which is this [points at orange]?
Ines: …it’s… a!

Fig. 15.6 Ines’s manipulated version of one of the rod constructions from Fig. 15.3. Note. Extracted
from Eriksson et al. (2019)
15 “Learning Models” as a Means of Materialising Algebraic Thinking … 269

Teacher: a.
Ines: … and… Then it’s two c’s!
Teacher: Then it’s two c’s instead.
Elliot: c plus c becomes a.

Here, the teacher utilised Ines’s construction (Fig. 15.6) that had been created
during the joint work and tried to use it to nudge the discussion forward by showing the
contradiction that two different variables, c and b, were represented by two identical
rods. In the discussion, the teacher drew students’ attention to the expression, the
rods, and the relationship between them. The collective discussion finally led Ines
and Elliot to recognise that the expression also needed to be changed to c + c = a.
This can be understood to mean that the students recognised the generality of rod
construction and thus chose to make the corresponding change in the expression.
Students identified that the expression had the structure of “the sum of two numbers
is equal to a third number,” and represented this structure by building constructions 1,
2, 4, 7, 8, and 9 as shown in Fig. 15.3. In the discussion, an opportunity was created to
materialise the arguments by using the copies of the students’ constructions. In this
work, the teacher and the students used the learning model to go back to ideas that
had arisen during the previous theoretical work. The learning model thus enabled
the modelling of the problem to become not only instantaneous but to take on the
function of a collective memory.

15.4.2 Algebraic Discussions in Grade 5

In the first sequence in grade 5, the teacher introduced the learning model by
presenting a picture of a line segment divided into two parts. The whole a and
the parts b and c were illustrated with arcs on the smartboard (Fig. 15.7).
Below the picture was the question: “Which of the following expressions corre-
spond with the picture?” and three algebraic expressions, a = b + c, b + c = a,
and b = c + a. These were presented as suggestions made by fictitious students.
The purpose with the line segment was to symbolise unknown quantities, that is,

Fig. 15.7 Learning model

used in grade 5 (inspired by
Davydov et al., 2012). Note.
Extracted from Eriksson
et al. (2019)
270 I. Eriksson et al.

Fig. 15.8 Problem situation presented in grade 5. Note. Extracted and translated from Eriksson
et al. (2019)

to function as a learning model where structures and relations in the expressions

were visualised and possible to elaborate on. The planned contradiction was that
all suggestions from the fictitious students could be perceived as correct, since all
three expressions had the same structure. The expressions consisted of the same vari-
ables, the same operator, and an equal sign, where the first two algebraic expressions
matched the learning model while the third did not. The idea was that students would
collectively use the line segments as a tool to visualise the inherent contradiction and
discuss the meaning of the expressions. In the second sequence, in which students
were to collectively work with the learning model, the teacher presented a problem
situation in the form of a statement and three algebraic expressions (Fig. 15.8).
To offer different possibilities for collective discussions on algebraic structures,
the variables in the expressions were symbolised with different letters. These expres-
sions were also presented as suggestions from fictitious students. In the problem situ-
ation, a possible contradiction was planned for in the form of an additive character
of the text as the word “together” usually signals that something should be added,
but one of the algebraic expressions, t = k − s, was expressed as a subtraction.
A third sequence was distinguished when the teacher introduced a new expression
that did not fit the given learning model but could fit the problem.
Previously in the lesson, a student, Matilda, asked if they could use the learning
model presented earlier in the lesson (Fig. 15.7) when analysing and arguing why
the fictional suggestion a = b + c could correspond to the written information. She
drew a learning model on the board (Fig. 15.9).
Another student, Nils, suggested that the expression t = k − s also could corre-
spond with the written information. He pointed to the longest line segment (a in
Matilda’s model) and said that it was s. He then pointed to the variable b and said
that it could be k and to the variable c and said that it could be t. Nils finished his
suggestion by saying, “so s minus k,” The incorrect connection between the variables
and the line segments and the fact that Nils said “s minus k” made Samuel object:
But now it’s k minus s.
Excerpt 5

Samuel: But now it’s k minus s [refers to the task].

Nils: Yes, but … [shrugs his shoulders].
15 “Learning Models” as a Means of Materialising Algebraic Thinking … 271

Samuel: It’s the other way round.

Nils: Yes, exactly, the other way round.
Samuel: If you [inaudible] switch them it’s exactly so /…/ Well, if you take the shorter
line segment, minus the longer line segment it will be negative.

Nils repeated what he had already said, and Samuel interrupted him and said that
“if s is the longer line segment, then it is the shorter minus the longer line segment.”
At this stage, the teacher chose to draw a similar model next to Matilda’s on the
board and then asked Nils to write out the variables (see Fig. 15.10).
Samuel argued that the expression t = k − s can be correct given that the longest
line segment in the model is attributed to the variable k and the two shorter line
segments s and t, but in the way Nils used the variables in the learning model they
did not correspond with the expression. In response to Samuel’s objection, Nils
shrugged his shoulders and said, “[y]es, but,” as if it did not matter that he reversed
the variables in the expression. Through the objections, “[i]t’s the other way round”
and “[i]f you switch them it’s exactly so,” Samuel expressed that the learning model
was correct if k corresponded to the longer line segment and s to one of the shorter
line segments. When Samuel said, “[w]ell, if you take the shorter line segment, minus
the longer line segment, it will be minus,” he thus compared the lengths of the line
segments and pointed out that a longer line segment cannot be subtracted from a
shorter one without the answer being negative, which was visualised in the learning
model.
Nils finally adjusted the learning model to match the expression and context
(Fig. 15.11), and Samuel and the other students agreed.
By collectively testing different arguments in the learning model and adjusting
the variables, the interrelationships of the variables and the meaning of subtraction
were materialised for the class.

15.4.2.1 “Because it is the Same Letter”

Later in the lesson, the teacher presented another algebraic expression, a = d + d, in

relation to the problem situation with the school route where the previously drawn
learning model was on the board:
Excerpt 7

Teacher: If I were to write a different expression, then. If I were to write [writes a = d

+ d]. What would it mean in that case?
Filippo: Karim’s and Robin’s distances are the same.
Teacher: How do you know that?
Filippo: Because it’s the same letter.
272 I. Eriksson et al.

Teacher: Because it is the same letter and that would mean that it is the same? [Heard
from the class: “I think so too”] What does Ezra say?
Ezra: I say like Filippo, then it’s exactly the same length of the line segments
because it’s … what’s the word, the same letter.
/…/
Teacher: What does Sara say?
Sara: Well … that, like, Karim’s route is half, or Petra’s route is twice as long as
Karim’s.

When the teacher wrote the new expression, she invited an extended reasoning
on the relationship between whole and parts as double/half. The reasoning that took
place thus enabled what appears to be a qualified algebraic understanding that d +
d = 2d.

15.5 Discussion

The results are discussed below in relation to the objective, which was to exemplify
the function of a learning model as a mediating tool for materialising algebraic
thinking when students jointly discuss algebraic expressions.
At a general level, a learning model can enable students’ theoretical work in
whole-class discussions in its different phases: identifying problems, developing
and substantiating their arguments, and making these arguments visible and making
it possible for others to elaborate on them. With reference to Vygotsky’s (1986) prin-
ciple that thinking first occurs on a societal plane and later on an individual plane, the
construction of a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) also needs to be understood
as a collective activity (Arievitch, 2017; Carpay, n.d.). This can be seen as an oppor-
tunity for students to materialise and verbalise their algebraic thinking by integrating
the models into their arguments (Broman et al., 2022; Davydov, 2008; Engeness,
2021; Gal’perin, 1969; Gorbov & Chudinova, 2000). When the learning models are
available to the whole class, conditions are created for a collective reflection process
(Zuckerman, 2004) where the students can test their ideas by exploring and trans-
forming the model. Or to paraphrase Kieran and Dreyfus (1998), it is possible for the
students to enter the thought universe of others. Such “collective algebraic thinking”
creates possibilities for the students to work in a collective ZPD (Vygotsky, 1986).
The analysis indicates that the learning models enhanced the students’ joint explo-
ration of the idea behind algebraic expressions and thus materialised their algebraic
thinking in the whole-class discussions in three ways: (1) materialising an argument,
(2) materialising a problem, and (3) materialising a collective memory.
Materialising an Argument: With reference to the idea that learning activity should
develop the students’ reflective and critical thinking (Zuckerman, 2003, 2004), the
results show that learning models can have such a function, that is, the tool contributes
15 “Learning Models” as a Means of Materialising Algebraic Thinking … 273

Fig. 15.9 Matilda’s use of the learning model when providing an argument for the expression a =
b+c

Fig. 15.10 Nils’ understanding of the expression t = k − s (on the right)

to promoting collective theoretical reflections (Davydov, 2008). The learning models

in our study not only contributed to the qualification of the classroom discussions,
they also were part of the common mathematical language of the class. In other
words, they became part of the students’ arguments by giving the arguments specific
meanings that were available to other students in the class. The arguments were thus
built up by verbal statements, gestures, and transformations of the learning model.
In Excerpt 1, for example, Adam’s moving of the rods together with the statement,
“so you should do this,” constituted a communicative whole that the other students
could follow (cf., Roth & Radford, 2011).
274 I. Eriksson et al.

Fig. 15.11 Nils’s adjustment of the learning model (on the right)

In grade 5 (Excerpt 5) when Samuel compared the lengths of the line segments in
the learning model and pointed out that a longer line segment could not be subtracted
from a shorter one without the answer being negative, he materialised the argument
as to why k − s is not the same as s − k.
Materialising a Problem: An obvious condition, with reference to Davydov’s (2008)
idea of ascending from the abstract to the concrete, is that the chosen learning models
need to capture some of the central structures and relationships that the students are
expected to discern, that is, the learning model needs to enable theoretical exploration.
As such, the learning model enabled the testing and re-testing of arguments by
visualising what could be a problem and what could be possible solutions. Like the
situation in grade 1 where Adam and Elliot, together with the teacher (see Excerpt
1), discussed how rod construction number 6 (Fig. 15.4) was incorrect based on
its incongruence with the original learning model on the board (Fig. 15.2). In so
doing, they found that there was another, and mathematically more relevant, flaw
with the construction—it did not show an equality. Having proved this they could
use the learning model to propose solutions that would establish equality. In grade 5
(Excerpt 5), Nils’ use of the variables s and k in the learning model did not correspond
with the given expression t = k − s. The fact that Nils did not seem to discern the
problem with how he had related the expression to the line segments in the learning
model created a contradiction that triggered Samuel to qualify his arguments so Nils
would understand what was problematic.
Materialising a Collective “Memory”: When the teachers and students used the
learning models to actively invite each other to share ideas not only verbally but also
by writing them on a joint board, and not erasing anything without discussion, the
learning models contributed to collectively materialising the modelling. This is what
we have chosen to call a “collective memory.” The classroom is often a complex
15 “Learning Models” as a Means of Materialising Algebraic Thinking … 275

situation with many participants, and where separate discussions and modelling can
emerge simultaneously. Therefore, the simple use of a joint board in this structured
way allows ideas and contributions to be active and visible for as long as necessary for
the modelling to take place and become substantive in the collective work. The teacher
can also direct the students’ focus to previously overlooked ideas, or to seemingly
incongruent contributions. The idea of a collective memory thereby offers the teacher
a tool for reviewing the discussion and steering it in constructive directions.
One example of this is when the students in grade 1 used the learning model
that had been used earlier in the lesson and that was still available on the board
(Fig. 15.2) to further the discussion towards manipulating the rod representation to
fit the expression c + c = a. This version of the original expression, c + b = a, had
been scrutinised in the mid-section of the lesson where the rod constructions (see
Fig. 15.3) constituted the collective memory. Then, in Excerpt 3, we saw how Ines
connected the adjusted expression to an adjusted version of the rod construction.
Similarly, the discussion in grade 5 (see Excerpt 7) can be seen as an example of
activating a collective memory. The learning models, which were available on a joint
board (see Fig. 15.11), enabled the students to examine the new expression in relation
to the previous reasoning even if the students did not draw an additional model. The
visualisation of the different learning models and the different expressions allowed
students to “remember” previous problems and solutions.

15.5.1 Concluding Remarks

In the research lessons we have analysed here, we have used a learning theory frame-
work based on cultural historical and activity theory—learning activity (Davydov,
2008). In the planning of the lessons, in addition to the choice of learning models, a lot
of work was put into designing the problem situations, contradictions, and thinking
about how the chosen learning models would be introduced and used. Emphasis was
also placed on creating the problem situations and trying to build in the contradictions
or hooks that could create a motivation for the students to engage in the theoretical
work that was sought. The inherent and emerging contradictions in the form of hooks
or provocations also contributed to the need for students to assess the reasonableness
of different proposed solutions and to anchor them mathematically (Toulmin, 2003).
The teacher’s readiness to utilise emerging situations and then try to provoke the
students to collectively qualify their reasoning was thus theoretically motivated (cf.,
Eriksson, 2017).
As noted by Ryve et al. (2013), among others, using mediating tools—here in
the form of what Davydov (2008) refers to as learning models—provides better
conditions for productive discussions. The examples of how to use learning models,
we have given in this chapter, can hopefully contribute to teachers’ ambition to
develop students’ algebraic thinking.
276 I. Eriksson et al.

In this chapter, our main focus has been to exemplify how learning models can
create conditions for students to follow, examine, and develop each other’s argu-
ments. However, it is important to note that the role of modelling within learning
activity extends beyond these aspects. According to Gorbov and Chudinova (2000),
modelling is a central component of learning activity since without modelling theoret-
ical thinking, in our case algebraic thinking, is not possible (cf., Broman et al., 2022;
Repkin, 2003b). Gorbov and Chudinova emphasise that the use of learning models
needs to be qualified throughout students’ educational journeys. Initially, modelling
work focuses on understanding how concrete actions on an object can be modelled
through learning models, such as, for example, line segments (see Fig. 15.1). This
early stage also involves processing and transforming models. The structure of the
object and the general mode of action are depicted in the model, incorporating fixed
relations derived from the analysis of object actions rather than direct empirical expe-
riences. As the students progress in the process of learning, the modelling becomes an
integral part of their theoretical thinking, enabling them to engage in “reverse action”
in reality, and acquire new knowledge about the relationships between original and
replacement objects.

Acknowledgements The project on which this article is based was funded by the Swedish Institute
for Educational Research (reference number 2016/151). Associate Professor Torbjörn Tambour with
his deep mathematical knowledge has been invaluable in both planning and analysing the research
lessons that form the basis of this article. Special thanks to the participating teachers who made
the research lessons possible. We are also grateful to the students who participated in the research
lessons. Finally, we would like to thank Stockholm Teaching & Learning Studies (STLS), which
served as our joint research environment.

References

Arievitch, I. M. (2017). Beyond the brain: an agentive activity perspective on mind, development,
and learning. Sense Publishers.
Bakhtin, M. (1987). The problem of speech genres. In M. M. Bakhtin, C. Emerson, & M. Holquist
(Eds.), Speech genres and other late essays (pp. 60–102). University of Texas Press.
Blanton, M., Stephens, A., Knuth, E., Murphy Gardiner, A., Isler, I., & Kim, J.-S. (2015). The devel-
opment of children’s algebraic thinking: The impact of a comparative early algebra intervention
in third grade. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 46(1), 39–87. https://doi.org/
10.5951/jresematheduc.46.1.0039
Broman, A., Waermö, M., & Chudinova, E. V. (2022). The modelling in developmental education:
A condition for theoretical abstraction and generalization. Educativa Goiânia, 25, 1–25. https://
doi.org/10.18224/educ.v25i1.12762
Cai, J., & Knuth, E. (Eds.). (2011). Early algebraization: A global dialogue from multiple
perspectives. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-17735-4
Carpay, J. (n.d.). Developmental education: from Vygotsky to Davydov. A short reflection on
curriculum studies in Russia (pp. 1–11). Academie voor OGO.
Cobb, P., Stephan, M., McClain, K., & Gravemeijer, K. (2001). Participating in classroom
mathematical practices. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 10(1/2), 113–163.
15 “Learning Models” as a Means of Materialising Algebraic Thinking … 277

Davydov, V. V. (1990). Types of generalization in instruction: Logical and psychological problems

in the structuring of school curricula. Soviet Studies in Mathematics Education, 2, 2–222. The
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (Original work published 1972)
Davydov, V. V. (2008). Problems of developmental instruction: A theoretical and experimental
psychological study. Nova Science Publishers, Inc. (Original work published 1986)
Davydov, V. V., Gorbov, S. F., Mikulina, G. G., & Saveleva, O. V. (2012). Matematikka [Matematics
1]. VitaPress.
Davydov, V. V., Slobodchikov, V. I., & Tsuckerman, G. A. (2003). The elementary school students
as an agent of learning activity. Journal of Russian & East European Psychology, 41(5), 63–76.
https://doi.org/10.2753/RPO1061-0405410563
Engeness, I. (2021). P.Y. Galperin’s development of human mental activity, Lectures in educational
psychology. Springer.
Eriksson, I. (2017). Lärandeverksamhet som redskap i en learning study [Learning activity as a
tool in a learning study]. In I. Carlgren (Ed.), Undervisningsutvecklande forskning. Exemplet
Learning study [Practice developmental research. Learning study as an example] (pp. 61–81).
Gleerups.
Eriksson, I. (2018). Lärares medverkan i praktiknära forskning: Förutsättningar och hinder
[Teachers’ participation in practice based research: Prerequisites and obstacles]. Utbildning &
Lärande, 12(1), 27–40. https://www.du.se/sv/forskning/utbildning-ochlarande/tidskriften-utb
ildning--larande/tidigare-nummer/
Eriksson, I., Fred, J., Nordin, A.-K., Nyman, M., & Wettergren, S. (2021). Tasks, tools, and mediated
actions—Promoting collective theoretical work on algebraic expressions. Nordic Studies in
Mathematics Education, 26(3–4), 29–52.
Eriksson, I., Wettergren, S., Fred, J., Nordin, A.-K., Nyman, M., & Tambour, T. (2019). Materi-
alisering av algebraiska uttryck i helklassdiskussioner med lärandemodeller som medierande
redskap i årskurs 1 och 5 [Materialisation of algebraic expressions in whole-class discussions
with learning models as mediating tools in grades 1 and 5]. Nordic Studies in Mathematics
Education, 24(3–4), 81–106.
Gal’perin, P. Y. (1969). Stages in the development of mental acts. In M. Cole & I. Maltzman (Eds.),
A handbook of contemporary Soviet psychology (pp. 249–273). Basic Books.
Gorbov, S. F., & Chudinova, E. V. (2000). Deystviye modelirovaniya v uchebnoy deyatel’nosti
shkol’nikov (k postanovke problemy) [The effect of modeling on the students’ learning
(Regarding problem formulation)]. Psychological Science and Education, 2, 96–110.
Hodgen, J., Oldenburg, R., & Strømskag, H. (2018). Algebraic thinking. In T. Dreyfus, M. Artigue,
D. Potari, S. Prediger, & K. Ruthven (Eds.), Developing research in mathematics educa-
tion: Twenty years of communication, cooperation, and collaboration in Europe (pp. 32–45).
Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315113562
Kaput, J., Carraher, D., & Blanton, M. (Eds.). (2008). Algebra in the early grades. Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315097435
Kieran, C. (2018). Introduction. In C. Kieran (Ed.), Teaching and learning algebraic thinking with
5- to 12-year-olds: The global evolution of an emerging field of research and practice (pp.
ix–xiii). Springer.
Kieran, C., & Dreyfus, T. (1998). Collaborative versus individual problem solving: Entering
another’s universe of thought. In PME Conference, July 12–17, 1998, Stellenbosch, South Africa
(Vol. 3, pp. 112–119).
Kieran, C., Pang, J., Schifter, D., & Ng, S. F. (2016). Early algebra research into its nature, its
learning, its teaching. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32258-2
Krutetskii, V. D. (1976). The psychology of mathematical abilities in school children. The University
of Chicago Press.
Larsson, M. (2015). Orchestrating mathematical whole-class discussions in the problem-solving
classroom: Theorizing challenges and support for teachers. [Doctoral thesis, Mälardalen
University].
278 I. Eriksson et al.

Larsson, M., & Ryve, A. (2012). Balancing on the edge of competency-oriented versus procedural-
oriented practices: Orchestrating whole-class discussions of complex mathematical problems.
Mathematics Education Research Journal, 24(4), 447–465. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-
012-0049-0
Leontiev, A. N. (1978). Activity, consciousness, and personality. Prentice-Hall.
Leung, A., & Bolite-Frant, J. (2015). Designing mathematics tasks: The role of tools. In A. Watson &
M. Ohtani (Eds.), Task design in mathematics education. New ICMI Study Series (pp. 191–225).
Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09629-2_6
Lins, R., & Kaput, J. (2004). The early development of algebraic reasoning: The current state of
the field. In K. Stacey, H. Chick, & M. Kendal (Eds.), The future of the teaching and learning of
algebra: The 12th ICMI Study (pp. 45–70). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-8131-6_4
Marton, F. (2015). Necessary conditions of learning. Routledge.
Nathan, M. J., & Kim, S. (2009). Regulation of teacher elicitations in the mathematics classroom.
Cognition and Instruction, 27(2), 91–120. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370000902797304
Nathan, M., & Knuth, E. (2003). A study of whole classroom mathematical discourse and teacher
change. Cognition and Instruction, 21(2), 175–207.
Radford, L. (2010). Signs, gestures, meanings: Algebraic thinking from a cultural semiotic perspec-
tive. In V. Durand-Guerrier, S. Soury-Lavergne, & F. Arzarello (Eds.), Proceedings of the Sixth
Conference of European Research in Mathematics Education (CERME 6) (pp. XXXIII–LIII).
Université Claude Bernard, Lyon, France.
Radford, L. (2018). The emergence of symbolic algebraic thinking in primary school. In C. Kieran
(Ed.), Teaching and learning algebraic thinking with 5- to 12-year-olds: The global evolution
of an emerging field of research and practice (pp. 3–25). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-
3-319-68351-5_1
Radford, L., & Barwell, R. (2016). Language in mathematics education research. In A. Gutiérrez,
G. Leder, & P. Boero (Eds.), The second handbook of research on the psychology of mathematics
education (pp. 275–313). Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-561-6_8
Repkin, V. V. (2003a). From the history of research into the problem of developmental teaching
in Kharkov. Journal of Russian & East European Psychology, 41(5), 77–96. https://doi.org/10.
2753/RPO1061-0405410577
Repkin, V. V. (2003b). Developmental teaching and learning activity. Journal of Russian & East
European Psychology, 41(5), 10–33. https://doi.org/10.2753/RPO1061-0405410510
Roth, W.-M., & Radford, L. (2011). A cultural-historical perspective on mathematics teaching and
learning. Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6091-564-2
Ryve, A., Larsson, M., & Nilsson, P. (2013). Analyzing content and participation in classroom
discourse: Dimensions of variation, mediating tools, and conceptual accountability. Scandina-
vian Journal of Educational Research, 57(1), 101–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2011.
628689
Schmittau, J. (2004). Vygotskian theory and mathematics education: Resolving the conceptual-
procedural dichotomy. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 19(1), 19–43. https://doi.
org/10.1007/BF03173235
Schmittau, J. (2005). The development of algebraic thinking. A Vygotskian perspective. Zentralblatt
für Didaktik der Mathematik, 37(1), 16–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02655893
Schmittau, J., & Morris, A. (2004). The development of algebra in the elementary mathematics
curriculum of V. V. Davydov. The Mathematics Educator, 8(1), 60–87. http://lchc.ucsd.edu/
MCA/Mail/xmcamail.2011_06.dir/pdfn8bJa6mo4c.pdf
Sfard, A. (2008). Thinking as communicating: Human development, the growth of discourses, and
mathematizing. Cambridge University Press.
Toulmin, S. (2003). The uses of argument. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/
CBO9780511840005
Venenciano, L., & Dougherty, B. (2014). Addressing priorities for elementary school mathematics.
For the Learning of Mathematics, 34(1), 18–24. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43894872
15 “Learning Models” as a Means of Materialising Algebraic Thinking … 279

Vygotsky, L. S. (1963). Learning and mental development at school age. Educational Psychology
in the USSR, 1, 21–34.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and language. MIT Press. (Original work published 1934)
Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). Mind in society: Development of higher psychological processes. Harvard
University Press.
Warren, E., & Cooper, T. J. (2009). Developing mathematics understanding and abstraction: The
case of equivalence in the elementary years. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 21(2),
76–95. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03217546
Xu, L., & Mesiti, C. (2022). Teacher orchestration of student responses to rich mathematics tasks
in the US and Japanese classrooms. ZDM—Mathematics Education, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.
1007/s11858-021-01322-6
Zuckerman, G. (2003). The learning activity in the first years of schooling. In A. Kozulin, B.
Gindis, V. S. Ageyev, & S. M. Miller (Eds.), Vygotsky’s educational theory in cultural context
(pp. 177–199). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511840975.011
Zuckerman, G. (2004). Development of reflection through learning activity. European Journal of
Psychology of Education, 19(1), 9–18. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23421398